LIBRARY 


amertcan 


EDITED    BY 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 


101' 


KANSAS 

TO  ACCOM  PAN  Y" 

LEVERETT  W.  SPRING'S 

KANSAS   in  AMERICAN  COMMONWEALTHS. 


99 '       Longitude 


Grand  Island 


0        10      20       ap       «)     _50      60      70  80  _100 

Sails  ot  t.*tute  MilM. 


22       Longitude 


American 


KANSAS 


THE  PRELUDE  TO  THE  WAR  FOR 
THE  UNION 


LEVERETT  W.  SPRING 

PROFESSOR  IN  ENGLISH  LITERATURE  IK  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS 


BOSTON 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

New  York:   11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

<€fce  fitoer0it>E  $rE08,  Cambridge 
1885 


Copyright,  1886, 
BT  LEVERETT  W.  SPRING. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge  : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Co. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

PAOI 
PRELIMINARY 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  FIELD    ...  17 

CHAPTER  IIL 
DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES     .......    24 

CHAPTER  IV. 
LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY  37 

CHAPTER  V. 
COUNTER-MOVES 59 

CHAPTER  VI. 
WAR  ON  THE  WAKARDSA 79 

CHAPTER  VII. 
SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS  102 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

DUTCH  HENRY'S  CROSSING,  BLACK  JACK,  AND  OSAWAT- 
OMIE 137 

CHAPTER  IX. 
PER   ASPERA  ....  .163 


iy  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEK  X. 

PAGE 
THE  LECOMFTON   STRUGGLE 209 

CHAPTER  XL 
JAYHAWKING 237 

CHAPTER  XII. 
CLOSE  OP  THE  TERRITORIAL   PERIOD        ....  257 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
DURING  THE  WAJI  FOR  THE   UNION         ....  268 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
AD  ASTRA 306 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 

INDEX 329 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


THE  limits  prescribed  for  this  volume  have 
not  permitted  a  minutely  detailed  account  of  the 
Kansas  struggle.  I  have  endeavored  to  exhibit 
the  logic  and  spirit  of  "the  first  actual  national 
conflict  between  slaveholding  and  free-labor  im- 
migrants," rather  than  to  attempt  an  exhaustive 
collection  of  facts.  Newspaper  files,  public  doc- 
uments, books,  manuscripts  that  promised  to 
throw  light  upon  the  subject  have  been  carefully 
examined.  A  large  amount  of  material  has  been 
derived  from  personal  intercourse  with  men  of 
all  parties  who  helped  to  make  the  history  of 
Kansas.  If  my  version  of  it  should  not  prove 
to  be  colored  with  the  dyes  in  vogue  twenty, 
five  years  ago,  I  beg  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind 
that  there  is  too  much  truth  in  what  Theodore 
Parker  said  in  1856,  at  the  anniversary  of  the 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  concerning  the  Kansas  busi- 
ness, —  "I  know  of  no  transaction  in  human 


vi  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

history  which  has  been  covered  up  with  such 
abundant  lying,  from  the  death  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira  down  to  the  first  nomination  of  Gov- 
ernor Gardner." 

The  map  which  accompanies  this  volume  is 
designed  to  illustrate  the  text,  rather  than  to 
exhibit  the  Kansas  of  to-day.  It  shows  the  chief 
places  of  historic  interest,  —  some  of  which  no 

longer  exist. 

L.  W.  S. 

STATE  UNIVERSITY,  LAWRENCE,  KANSAS, 
September,  1885. 


KANSAS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PRELIMINARY. 

THE  eminent  Union-savers,  who  devised  and  car- 
ried through  Congress  the  compromise  of  1850, 
fully  expected  that  it  would  drive  the  question  of 
slavery  totally  and  permanently  out  of  national 
politics.  They  drained  their  vocabulary  in  ap- 
plauding that  wonderful  specific  which  involved 
the  enactment  of  a  stringent  fugitive  slave  law ; 
the  admission  of  California  with  a  free-labor 
constitution ;  the  organization  of  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  as  territories  on  the  basis  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty ;  and  the  removal  of  slave  marts  from 
the  District  of  Columbia.  When  at  last  it  received 
the  sanction  of  Congress,  Henry  Clay,  drawn 
from  retirement  by  the  stress  of  public  affairs  to 
undertake  a  mission  of  pacification,  felicitated  the 
country  upon  the  peace  which  quickly  followed 
and  gave  promise  of  permanence.  General  Lewis 
Cass  did  not  believe  that  "  any  party  could  now 
be  built  up  in  relation  to  the  question  of  slavery." 


2  KANSAS. 

He  even  contemplated  the  extraordinary  self-de- 
nial of  making  no  more  speeches  about  it.  To  put 
the  matter  beyond  recall ;  to  breathe  against  the 
great  disturber 

"  The  hopeless  word  of  —  never  to  return," 
forty-four  members  of  the  thirty-first  Congress, 
including  many  leading  politicians  of  the  South, 
solemnly  and  publicly  pledged  themselves  to  op- 
pose the  candidacy  of  any  man  for  the  office  of 
president,  vice-president,  congressman,  or  state 
legislator  who  should  favor  "a  renewal  of  sec- 
tional controversy  upon  the  subject  of  slavery." 
In  1852  Whig  and  Democratic  conventions  struck 
hands  in  eulogizing  the  compromise,  and  resolved 
that  mankind  should  be  dumb  in  regard  to  the 
wrongs  of  the  negro.  The  triumphant  election 
of  Franklin  Pierce  as  president  turned  upon  the 
popular  conviction,  that  he  was  more  unqualifiedly 
in  sympathy  with  the  policy  and  measures  of  con- 
ciliation than  his  illustrious  rival. 

But  the  drowsy  syrups  of  compromise  were 
swallowed  in  vain.  The  conflict,  which  no  genius 
of  skillful  temporizing  could  effectually  stifle, 
after  a  brief  and  uneasy  repose  broke  out  afresh. 
Slavery,  so  recently  and  so  impressively  banned 
from  the  halls  of  national  legislation,  returned 
thither  almost  before  the  applause  that  greeted  its 
exile  had  died  away.  In  the  Senate,  December 
4th,  1853,  A.  C.  Dodge  of  Iowa  offered  a  bill,  of 
the  usual  form  and  purport,  for  the  organization  of 


PRELIMINARY.  8 

Nebraska — a  measure  unsuccessfully  attempted 
during  the  preceding  session.  After  considera- 
tion by  the  Committee  on  Territories,  of  which 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois  was  chairman,  the 
bill  reappeared  in  the  Senate  January  4th,  1854, 
variously  amended  and  accompanied  by  an  elabo- 
rate disquisition  upon  the  status  of  slavery  in  the 
public  domain. 

Though  Mr.  Douglas  did  not  leave  his  theo- 
ries in  doubt,  and  insisted  that  the  compromise  of 
1850  reposed  on  principles  of  congressional  non- 
action  in  the  territories,  yet  he  shrank  from  defi- 
nite, downright  announcement  that  the  compro- 
mise of  1820  was  at  an  end.  By  the  terms  of 
that  adjustment  Missouri  came  into  the  Union  as 
a  slave  state,  but  all  unoccupied  portions  of  the 
old  Louisiana  province  north  of  the  parallel  36° 
30'  were  perpetually  reserved  for  freedom.  Jan- 
uary 16th,  Senator  Dixon  of  Kentucky,  dissatis- 
fied with  the  hesitation  of  the  bill,  offered  an 
amendment  that  directly  assailed  the  Missouri 
restriction.  Douglas  finally  espoused  the  bolder 
policy  —  not  without  reluctance  and  uncomfort- 
able augury.  "  I  have  become  perfectly  satisfied," 
he  said  to  Dixon,  "  that  it  is  my  duty  as  a  fair- 
minded  national  statesman  to  cooperate  with  you 
as  proposed,  in  procuring  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  restriction.  It  is  due  to  the 
South ;  it  is  due  to  the  constitution  ;  it  is  due  to 


4  KANSAS. 

that  character  of  consistency  which  I  have  here- 
tofore labored  to  maintain.  The  repeal,  if  we 
can  effect  it,  will  produce  much  stir  in  the  free 
states  of  the  Union  for  a  season.  Every  opprobri- 
ous epithet  will  be  applied  to  me.  I  shall  prob- 
ably be  hung  in  effigy.  .  .  .  This  proceeding  may 
end  my  political  career.  But  acting  under  the 
sense  of  duty  which  actuates  me,  I  am  prepared 
to  make  the  sacrifice." 

Douglas  recalled  the  bill,  which  was  subjected 
to  repeated  and  essential  revisions.  In  its  ulti- 
mate form,  as  reported  from  the  workshop  of  the 
committee  February  7th,  it  cancelled  the  Missouri 
Compromise ;  cut  Nebraska  into  halves  —  styling 
the  southern  section  Kansas  and  the  northern 
Nebraska ;  and  enunciated  the  doctrine  that  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States,  peopling  the  territories, 
have  plenary  jurisdiction  over  all  their  domestic 
institutions. 

The  debate  which  instantly  sprang  up  on  the 
reappearance  of  the  slavery  question  in  Congress 
—  inferior  to  none  of  its  predecessors  in  violence 
or  duration  of  parliamentary  noise  —  fell  below  the 
contest  of  1850  in  freshness  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression. It  affords  no  exhibition  of  scenical  and 
oratorical  tableaux  so  memorable  as  when  Cal- 
houn,  wrecked  in  health  but  with  intellect  and 
power  of  will  still  unbroken,  listened  to  the 
reading  of  his  last  speech,  thickly  sown  with  anx- 
ieties and  ill-boding  ;  as  when  Daniel  Webster  on 


PRELIMINARY.  5 

the  7th  of  March  rallied  all  the  splendid  forces  of 
his  oratory  and  renown  for  an  assault  on  the  anti- 
slavery  movement  —  the  tendency  and  outcome  of 
which  had  been  "  not  to  enlarge,  but  to  restrain, 
not  to  set  free  but  to  bind  faster,  the  slave  popu- 
lation of  the  South." 

Douglas  did  not  assume  a  new  role  by  leading 
the  crusade  against  congressional  restriction  in 
the  territories.  He  bore  a  distinguished  part  in 
the  compromise  of  1850,  of  which  popular  sover- 
eignty constituted  a  prominent  if  not  paramount 
feature.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  who  has  given 
in  his  "  War  between  the  States  "  interesting  de- 
tails not  generally  known  of  its  evolution  through 
private  conferences  between  representative  men  of 
the  North  and  the  South,  argues  with  apparent 
conclusiveness  that  popular  sovereignty  "  was  the 
compromise  of  that  year  ;  "  that  "  the  other  asso- 
ciated measures  all  depended  upon  it."  Mr.  Doug- 
las, as  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Ter- 
ritories, introduced  bills  for  the  organization  of 
Utah  and  New  Mexico  in  harmony  with  the  con- 
ference adjustments.  "  A  few  weeks  afterward,"  he 
said  in  a  speech  March  3d,  1854,  "  the  committee 
of  thirteen  took  these  two  bills  and  put  a  wafer 
between  them  and  reported  them  back  to  the 
Senate  as  one  bill,  with  some  slight  amendments. 
One  of  these  amendments  was  that  the  territorial 
legislatures  should  not  legislate  upon  the  subject 
of  African  slavery.  I  objected  to  that  provision 


6  KANSAS. 

upon  the  ground  that  it  subverted  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  self-government  upon  which  the  bill  had 
been  originally  framed  by  the  territorial  commit- 
tee. On  the  first  trial  the  Senate  refused  to  strike 
it  out,  but  subsequently,  did  so,  after  full  debate, 
in  order  to  establish  that  principle  as  the  rule  of 
action  hi  territorial  organizations."  William  H. 
Seward,  silent  on  this  particular  point  during  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  Kansas  struggle,  substantially 
admitted  at  a  later  period  all  that  Stephens  and 
Douglas  claimed.  The  pacification  of  1850,  he 
repeatedly  conceded,  secured  for  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  "the  right  to  choose  freedom  or  slavery 
when  ripened  into  states." 

While  Douglas  possessed  some  capital  qualifi- 
cations for  leadership;  while  his  resources  em- 
braced remarkable  endowments  of  rude,  boister- 
ous, half-educated  force,  of  invincible  self-as- 
sertion, of  insolent  and  unsurpassed  dexterity 
in  the  practices  of  forensic  gladiatorship,  yet  he 
was  weak  in  those  essential  qualities  and  inspira- 
tions that  spring  out  of  a  profound  ethical  convic- 
tion. In  regard  to  the  moral  aspects  of  slavery, 
which  stirred  the  conscience  of  the  civilized  world, 
he  affected  a  phlegmatic,  nonchalant  sentiment  — 
an  indifference  whether  it  was  voted  up  or  down 
ill  the  territories. 

Southern  congressmen,  reinforced  by  liberal 
Democratic  contingents  from  the  North,  rallied 
with  enthusiasm  in  support  of  popular  sovereignty. 


PRELIMINARY.  7 

This  doctrine  had  been  uncordially  received  by  all 
parties  on  its  appearance  in  the  arena  of  politics. 
"Well  do  I  remember,"  said  Thomas  H.  Benton 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  April  25th,  1854, 
"  the  day  when  it  was  first  shown  in  the  Senate. 
Mark  Antony  did  not  better  remember  the  day 
when  Caesar  first  put  on  that  mantle  through 
which  he  was  afterwards  pierced  with  three  and 
twenty  envious  stabs.  It  was  in  the  Senate  in 
1848,  and  was  received  ...  as  the  quintessence  of 
nonsense."  In  1854  Southern  political  sentiment 
blew  from  an  opposite  quarter.  Then  Southern 
leaders  accepted  popular  sovereignty  with  enthu- 
siasm as  a  providential  expedient  for  the  defense 
and  extension  of  their  social  institutions.  They 
argued  that  Congress  had  no  legitimate  compe- 
tency to  draw  lines  of  restriction  across  the  public 
domain,  which  excluded  one  half  of  the  country 
from  fair  and  equal  occupancy  of  it ;  that  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  in  no  sense  a  compact, 
as  it  lacked  every  element  of  state  and  party  con- 
sent ;  that  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty, 
the  right  of  communities,  state  and  territorial,  to 
legislate  for  themselves,  is  distinctly  and  emphat- 
ically an  American  doctrine ;  that  it  was  the  issue 
at  stake  in  the  colonial  struggle  with  Great  Brit- 
ain and  in  the  crisis  of  1850 ;  that  the  much-quoted 
anti-slavery  sentimentalities  of  the  fathers  of  the 
republic  carry  little  weight  because  notable  ad- 
vances in  sociology  have  been  made  since  their  day, 


8  KAXSAS. 

because  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  South, 
tested  by  a  wider  experience,  are  seen  to  embody 
and  define  the  great  race-subordinations  of  nature. 
Besides,  the  geographical  makeshift  failed  to  tran- 
quillize sectional  disturbances,  as  it  furnished  abo- 
litionists a  precedent  for  intermeddling.  "It  is  a 
disunion  line,"  said  Representative  Caskie  of  Vir- 
ginia. "  No,  sir,"  exclaimed  Senator  Butler  of 
South  Carolina,  "  instead  of  Peace  standing  on  the 
Missouri  line  with  healing  in  her  wings  and  olive- 
branches  in  her  hands,  it  has  been  Electia  with 
snakes  hissing  from  her  head  and  the  torch  of  dis- 
cord in  her  hand." 

The  champions  of  popular  sovereignty  disa- 
greed as  to  the  time  when  the  inhabitants  of  a 
territory  might  constitutionally  exercise  the  right 
"  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions 
in  their  own  way."  Current  Southern  construc- 
tions, which  the  Supreme  Court  afterwards  con- 
firmed, maintained  that  nothing  could  be  done 
previous  to  the  formation  of  a  state  constitution. 
Douglas  insisted,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  people 
could  act  legally  and  effectively  whenever  they 
pleased.  Among  the  questions  propounded  to 
him  by  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  joint  debates  of 
1858,  there  was  one  which  touched  this  point. 
Douglas  replied  that  as  slavery  could  not  exist  a 
day  nor  an  hour  anywhere,  unless  supported  by 
local  police  regulations  which  the  territorial  legis- 
lature must  establish,  the  people  need  only  elect 


PRELIMINARY.  9 

anti-slavery  representatives  effectually  to  balk  the 
introduction  of  it,  whatever  course  the  Supreme 
Court  might  pursue.  In  other  words,  decisions  of 
the  highest  legal  tribunal  could  be  successfully 
evaded. 

Congressional  opposition  to  the  Kansas-Ne- 
braska legislation  marshaled  chiefly  under  three 
leaders,  —  Sumner,  Chase,  and  Seward.  Other 
well-known  men,  like  Samuel  Houston,  John  Bell, 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  and  Edward  Everett,  were 
among  the  dissenters ;  but  the  trio,  inferior  to 
none  of  their  associates  in  ability,  and  representa- 
tive of  a  more  radical  antagonism  to  slavery  than 
was  in  repute  among  them,  passed  easily  and  nat- 
urally into  leadership. 

In  Charles  Sumner,  brilliant,  scholarly,  persist- 
ent, courageous,  impassioned,  at  home  in  tasks  of 
rhetoric  rather  than  of  statesmanship,  —  suffusing 
his  opinions  with  personal  intensities  that  some- 
times passed  over  into  intolerance,  —  the  fiercer, 
extremer  phases  of  anti-slaveryism  found  fitting 
utterance. 

Salmon  P.  Chase,  a  man  of  large,  roundabout, 
intellectual  mould,  came  up  out  of  Democratic 
antecedents,  from  the  influence  of  which  he  was 
never  wholly  emancipated.  Persuaded  that  the 
Whigs  could  not  be  roused  to  take  the  field 
against  Southern  encroachments,  he  purposed  to 
recruit  the  Democratic  party  for  that  service. 
The  dream  proved  sufficiently  unrealizable.  Nei- 


10  KANSA8. 

ther  Whigs  nor  Democrats  were  prepared  to  en- 
list in  anti-slavery  enterprises.  Despairing  of  the 
older  parties  if  abandoned  to  the  impulse  of  in- 
clination and  bias,  he  threw  himself  into  the  Free- 
Soil  movement  with  an  expectation  of  holding 
them  to  the  slavery  problem  by  some  balance-of- 
power  tactics.  Though  Chase's  radicalism  did 
not  fall  much  below  Sumner's  theoretically,  yet 
a  cooler,  more  judicial  and  practical  temperament 
gave  it  less  violent  and  exasperating  tongue. 

William  H.  Seward  did  not  rank  himself  among 
abolitionists,  though  in  the  debate  of  1850  he 
pronounced  "  all  legislative  compromises  radically 
wrong  and  essentially  vicious,"  and  enunciated  the 
doctrine  of  a  higher  law  in  which  constitutions  as 
well  as  statutes  must  be  read,  —  sentiments  that 
naturally  would  have  driven  him  into  their  camp. 
But  a  cool,  sagacious  conservatism,  a  corrective, 
unfanatical  habit  of  looking  before  and  after,  qual- 
ified his  radicalism  and  held  it  down  to  consti- 
tutional methods.  He  was  content  to  let  slavery 
alone  so  long  as  it  remained  within  the  ring-fence 
of  stipulated  boundaries.  Keen,  adroit,  felicitous 
in  diction,  endued  with  unmistakable  intuitions  of 
statesmanship,  at  times  soaring  into  regions  of 
philosophico-poetic  inspiration,  he  was  surpassed 
by  no  contemporary  politician  in  comprehension 
of  the  present  or  in  forecast  of  the  future. 

These  men  and  their  coadjutors,  opponents  of 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  protested  that  the  cir- 


PRELIMINARY.  11 

cumstances  under  which  the  restrictive  Missouri 
legislation  originated,  the  sanction  of  Monroe's 
administration  in  which  Calhoun  figured,  the  re- 
peated acts  of  congressional  recognition  and  re- 
affirmation,  all  conspired  to  clothe  it  with  the 
moral  force  of  a  constitutional  provision.  That 
the  latest  pacification  wrecked  the  compact  of 
thirty  years  before  they  indignantly  denied.  "  It 
is  said,"  remarked  Benton  of  Missouri,  "that  the 
measures  of  1850  superseded  this  compromise  of 
1820.  ...  If  it  was  repealed  in  1850,  why  do  it 
over  again  in  1854  ?  Why  kill  the  dead  ?  "  There 
was  voluminous  argument  that  slavery  existed 
by  virtue  of  local  legislation  only,  which  had  no 
extra-state  validity ;  that  in  the  territories,  under- 
-age wards  of  the  general  government  for  whom  no 
inconsiderable  fraction  of  their  civil  machinery  is 
provided  arbitrarily  and  without  consultation, 
popular  sovereignty  in  the  nature  of  things  must 
be  fragmentary  and  delusive  ;  that  the  federal  con- 
stitution, interpreted  by  the  utterances  and  meas- 
ures of  the  men  who  made  it,  is  not  committed  to 
slavery,  but  dips  unmistakably  toward  liberty. 
The  possible,  nay  probable  consequences  of  a  war 
upon  the  Missouri  settlement  —  consequences  even 
gathering,  darkening,  turmoiling, 

"  As  clouds  grow  on  the  blast, 
Like  tower-crowned  giants  striding  fast  "  — 

were  luridly  set  forth.      Unspeakable  calamities 
would  follow  this  profane  attempt  to  remove  an- 


12  KANSAS. 

cient  land-marks.  "  It  will  light  up  a  fire  in  the 
country,"  said  Mr.  Chase,  with  a  touch  of  prophecy 
in  his  words,  "  which  may  consume  those  who 
kindled  it." 

The  debate,  which  began  in  January  and  ter- 
minated on  the  morning  of  May  26th  with  a  con- 
tinuous discussion  in  the  Senate  of  thirteen  hours, 
was  emphatically  an  affair  in  which  there  were 
"  blows  to  take  as  well  as  blows  to  give."  How- 
ever triumphant  the  anti-slavery  argument  may 
have  been  along  ethical  and  humanitarian  lines,  it 
was  not  equally  successful  in  other  parts  of  the 
field.  The  Missouri  Compromise  hinged  upon  de- 
grees of  latitude  and  longitude,  upon  the  principle 
of  parceling  unorganized  portions  of  the  country 
between  the  North  and  the  South.  It  was  not,  to 
say  the  least,  an  ideal  basis  of  settlement  for  ques- 
tions surcharged  with  gravest  moral  considera- 
tions. That  the  enemies  of  slavery  in  1848  and 
again  in  1850  should  have  declined  to  expand  "the 
time-honored  and  venerated  policy  of  a  geograph- 
ical line  "  into  a  rule  of  universal  application  is  not 
surprising.  The  past  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
must  not  be  disturbed,  but  they  moved  heaven 
and  earth  to  hedge  it  out  of  an  enlarged  future. 
In  fact,  their  creed  of  territorial  philosophy  was 
— no  more  slave  states.  The  compromise  of  1850, 
however,  rejected  all  articles  of  restriction,  and 
sanctioned  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty. 
The  adoption  of  a  new  policy,  applying  to  terri- 


PRELIMINARY.  13 

tories  in  the  main  but  not  literally,  and  absolutely 
untouched  by  the  elder  agreement,  may  not  have 
technically  snuffed  out  the  compact  of  1820, 
though  such  eminent  legal  authorities  as  Rufus 
Choate  and  Daniel  Webster  are  quoted  in  the 
affirmative.  Yet,  practically,  the  effect  of  it 
could  only  be  to  overlay  and  obliterate  the  Mis- 
souri bargain.  Mr.  Douglas,  in  the  bill  organiz- 
ing Kansas  and  Nebraska,  simply  followed  the 
latest  precedent. 

The  congressional  pother,  which  resulted  in  the 
passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  by  a  vote  of 
thirty-seven  ayes  to  fourteen  nays  in  the  Senate 
and  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  ayes  to  one  hun- 
dred nays  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  roused 
intense  excitement  throughout  the  North,  where 
popular  sovereignty  had  an  evil,  pro-slavery  repu- 
tation. Conventions,  town-meetings,  state  legis- 
latures denounced  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise. Clergymen  in  great  numbers  and  of  all 
denominations  swelled  the  chorus  of  protest,  a 
spectacle  that  caused  much  unfriendly  comment 
in  conservative  quarters.  "  Alas,  alas,"  lamented 
William  M.  Tweed  of  New  York  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  "  such  a  profanation  of  the 
American  pulpit  was  never  before  known.  The 
head  of  the  devout  follower  droops."  Northern 
congressmen  who  befriended  the  Nebraska  busi- 
ness generally  found  life  a  burden.  In  newspa- 
pers of  the  day  lists  of  these  reprobates  appeared 


14  KANSAS. 

bordered  with  black  lines  and  annotated  with  un- 
eulogizing  comments.  Mr.  Douglas's  rueful  pre- 
monition that  storms  of  indignation  and  wrath 
would  assail  him  was  signally  fulfilled.  "  I  could 
then  travel,"  he  said  in  an  address  at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  during  the  summer  of  1858,  "  from 
Boston  to  Chicago  by  the  light  of  my  own  effi- 
gies." 

The  immediate  political  consequences  of  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  agitation  were  startling.  It  ut- 
terly overthrew  the  Whig  party  and  reduced  the 
Democratic  party  from  national  to  sectional  rank. 
"  Where  are  the  men  of  the  North,"  asked  Repre- 
sentative English  of  Indiana  during  the  Lecomp- 
ton  debate  in  1858,  "  who  voted  for  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  in  this  House  ?  I  look  around  this 
hall  in  vain  for  their  familiar  faces.  The  gentle- 
man from  Pennsylvania  and  myself  ,  .  .  are  the 
only  persons  voting  for  the  bill  who  have  retained 
seats  on  this  floor.  And  in  the  Senate  I  am  told 
but  one  Northern  man  who  voted  for  it  has  been 
reflected.  Sir,  the  passage  of  that  bill  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  Democ- 
racy in  all  the  Northern  States." 

But  to  these  destructive  and  crippling  tenden- 
cies a  remarkable  antithesis  appeared,  in  the  in- 
tegration of  Northern  anti-slavery  sentiment  that 
ensued.  The  pioneers  of  abolitionism  purposely 
and  persistently  devoted  themselves  to  tasks  of 
agitation  —  to  the  creation  of  anti-slavery  senti- 


PRELIMINARY.  15 

ment  in  the  North — a  measure  successfully  prose- 
cuted in  the  face  of  the  most  formidable  difficul- 
ties —  and  to  the  exasperation  of  the  South,  "  so 
that  every  step  she  takes,  in  her  blindness,  is  one 
step  more  toward  ruin."  Statesmen  they  were 
in  the  unpartisan,  ethical,  future-moulding  sense 
of  that  word  —  politicians  they  declined  to  be. 
By  the  very  necessities  of  their  mission  they 
were  dedicated  to  comparative  isolation  —  solitary 
knights  bestriding 

"  The  winged  Hippogriff,  Reform." 

They  did  not  melt  into  the  great  popular  move- 
ments which  their  personal  heroism,  their  bril- 
liancy of  newspaper  and  platform  utterance,  their 
genius  of  moral  intuition  had  made  possible. 
Free-Soilism  is  the  masterpiece  of  later  abolition- 
ists, who,  declining  to  abjure  politics,  entered  the 
arena  of  party-building ;  but  Free-Soilism  reached 
its  highest  uses  in  offering  a  convenient  rallying 
point  for  the  great  Northern  uprising.  That 
memorable  outburst  of  moral  indignation  against 
the  slave-oligarchy  was  no  fire  of  straw.  The 
comparatively  insignificant  anti-slavery  vote  cast 
in  1852  swelled,  under  its  powerful  stimulus,  to 
a  total  in  1856  of  more  than  thirteen  hundred 
thousand.  From  this  relative  and  partial  success 
the  mighty  revolution  stormed  on  to  a  complete 
triumph  in  the  presidential  election  of  1860. 
Beyond  that  decisive  event  lie  the  tremendous 


KANSAS. 


years  of  war  for  the  Union.  "  We  are  on  the  eve 
of  a  great  national  transaction,"  said  Mr.  Seward, 
in  the  concluding  hours  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
debate,  —  "a  transaction  that  will  close  a  cycle 
in  the  history  of  our  country." 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FIELD. 

THE  territory  of  Kansas  extended  westward 
from  Missouri  to  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains and  northward  from  the  thirty -seventh  to 
the  fortieth  parallel,  embracing  an  area  of  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty  -  six  thousand  square 
miles.  The  history  of  this  vast,  mid-continent  re- 
gion belongs  mainly  to  yesterday.  Barely  the 
life-period  of  a  single  generation  has  elapsed  since 
civilization  touched  it  otherwise  than  casually  and 
fugitively. 

Francisco  Vasquez  de  Coronado  is  reputed  to  be 
the  first  European  who  visited  Kansas.  In  1540 
he  set  out  from  Mexico  with  a  small  army  of 
Spaniards  and  Indians  to  seize  Cibola,  a  province 
situated  somewhere  in  New  Mexico,  and  rumored 
to  abound  in  magnificent  cities  which  the  prose 
of  actual  investigation  discredited  into  a  few 
wretched  hamlets. 

Coronado's  disappointments  did  not  end  at  Ci- 
bola. Notwithstanding  that  dissuasive  experience, 
he  fell  into  the  toils  of  a  smooth-tongued  fabling 
Indian  nicknamed  the  Turk,  "  on  account  of  his 
2 


18  KANSAS. 

resemblance  to  the  people  of  that  nation,"  a  ras- 
cal who  vapored  about  a  country  of  remarkable 
wealth  and  splendor  lying  far  eastward  across  the 
plains  and  called  Quivera. 

In  the  spring  of  1541  the  credulous  Spaniard 
broke  camp  at  Tiguex,  a  province  of  the  Rio 
Grande  valley,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Puerco, 
to  which  he  retired  after  a  bootless  exploration 
of  Cibola,  and  began  a  new  quest.  In  thirty-seven 
days  he  reached  the  Arkansas.  Here  provisions 
began  to  fail,  and  the  bulk  of  the  expedition  re- 
traced its  steps  to  New  Mexico.  The  route  of 
Coronado,  who  pushed  on  with  a  few  picked  men, 
is  bestead  with  uncertainties.  Nothing  better  can 
be  offered  in  regard  to  it  than  conjectures  more  or 
less  plausible.  He  appears  to  have  advanced  from 
southwestern  Kansas  "  through  mighty  plains  and 
sandy  heaths,  smooth  and  wearisome  and  bare  of 
wood.  .  .  .  All  that  way  the  plains  are  as  full  of 
crook  back  oxen  as  the  mountain  Serena  in  Spain 
is  of  sheep.  .  .  .  They  were  a  great  succor  for  the 
hunger  and  want  of  bread  which  our  people  stood 
in.  One  day  it  rained  in  that  plain  a  great  shower 
of  hail,  as  big  as  oranges,  which  caused  many 
tears,  weaknesses,  and  vows."  The  expedition 
probably  called  a  halt  in  northeastern  Kansas 
near  the  Nebraska  line.  One  point  only  is  abso- 
lutely clear  —  Coronado  had  been  duped  again. 
No  rich  spoils,  no  flamboyant  fervors  of  architec- 
ture, were  discovered ;  no  imperial  cities 


THE  FIELD.  19 

"  Such  as  vision 

Builds  from  the  purple  crags  and  silver  towers 
Of  battlemented  cloud,  as  in  derision 
Of  kingliest  masonry." 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  single  feature  of  the 
expedition  afforded  the  Spaniards  more  retrospec- 
tive satisfaction  than  the  fate  of  the  tricky  Turk. 
Confessing  that  he  had  lured  them  into  the  desert 
to  accomplish  their  ruin,  he  was  promptly  and  it 
may  be  presumed  enthusiastically  strangled.  This 
first  reconnaissance  of  civilization  upon  Kansas 
achieved  nothing  of  practical  importance. 

After  the  departure  of  Coronado  no  Europeans 
visited  Kansas  for  an  interval  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  years.  Meanwhile  Louisi- 
ana, a  vast  territory  vaguely  denominated  as  the 
region  drained  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  affluents, 
passed  into  the  possession  of  France.  Of  this 
enormous  tract  Kansas,  with  the  exception  of  some 
unimportant  territorial  additions  from  the  Texas 
cession  of  1850,  formed  a  portion.  It  was  not 
until  1719  that  Frenchmen  found  their  way  thi- 
ther. In  that  year  M.  du  Tissenet,  acting  under 
orders  of  M.  de  Bienville,  governor  of  Louisiana, 
made  a  hasty  tour  of  exploration,  found  the  coun- 
try "beautiful  and  well  timbered,"  native  war- 
riors "stout,  well  made  and  great,"  lead  mines 
"  abundant,  .  .  .  and  erected  a  column  with  the 
arms  of  the  king  placed  upon  it  27th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1719." 

This  cursory  and  inconsequential  visit  alarmed 


20  KANSAS. 

the  Spaniards.  In  New  Mexico  there  was  a 
movement  to  save  Kansas  from  the  Frenchmen. 
An  armed  caravan  left  Santa  F6  in  1721  on  this 
errand,  but  it  was  ill-managed,  and  blundered  into 
total  destruction. 

To  guard  against  danger  from  New  Mexico  in 
the  future,  the  French  erected  in  1722-23  a  forti- 
fication called  Fort  Orleans,  upon  an  island  in  the 
Missouri  River  near  the  mouth  of  the  Osage,  and 
M.  de  Bourgmont  was  put  in  command.  During 
the  following  year  Bourgmont  made  an  extended 
tour  in  Kansas.  With  the  various  Indian  tribes 
who  inhabited  the  region  he  assiduously  cultivated 
pacific  relations.  There  were  receptions,  speeches, 
pipe-smokings,  distributions  of  presents,  peace- 
dances,  and  general  assurances  of  profound  and 
mutual  regard.  It  is  singular  that  the  finale 
of  this  much-protesting  intercourse  should  have 
been  a  tragedy  of  utter  completeness  and  atrocity, 
but  such  is  the  case.  In  1725  Fort  Orleans  was 
captured  by  Kansas  savages  and  the  garrison 
slaughtered.  Details  are  wholly  unknown,  as  not 
a  white  man  survived  to  recount  the  story,  and  the 
stolid,  close-mouthed  Indian  never  broke  silence. 

The  massacre  effectually  blighted  the  enthu- 
siasm of  Frenchmen  for  explorations  in  Kansas. 
Indeed,  from  1725  until  the  United  States  pur- 
chased it  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  in  1803,  the  ter- 
ritory dropped  almost  completely  out  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  mankind  —  glided  back  into  the  blankness 


THE  FIELD.  21 

and  vacuity  of  a  terra  incognita.  The  expeditions 
of  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1804-06,  and  of  Lieutenant 
Z.  M.  Pike  in  1806-07,  furnish  almost  the  ear- 
liest scientific  and  trustworthy  information.  A 
portion  of  it  was  traversed  in  1819-20  by  a  detach- 
ment of  Major  S.  H.  Long's  party.  To  these 
early  American  explorers  Kansas  hardly  present- 
ed an  attractive  or  promising  appearance.  The 
beautiful  prairies  of  the  eastern  border, 

"  Billowy  bays  of  grass  ever  rolling  in  shadow  and  sunshine," 

kindled  their  enthusiasm,  but  in  the  interior  and 
to  the  westward  they  found  a  hopeless  reach  of 
desert,  well  enough  for  Indians  —  for  white  men 
untenantable.  Lieutenant  Pike  considered  "  the 
borders  of  the  Arkansaw  river  .  .  .  the  paradise 
(terrestrial)  of  our  territories  for  the  wandering 
savages.  ...  I  believe  there  are  buffalo,  elk,  and 
deer  sufficient  on  the  banks  of  the  Arkansaw  alone, 
if  used  without  waste,  to  feed  all  the  savages  in 
the  United  States  territory  one  century."  But 
the  region  could  not  support  white  men  in  large 
numbers  even  along  "  the  rivers  Kanses,  La  Platte, 
Arkansaw  and  their  branches.  .  .  .  The  wood  now 
in  the  country  would  not  be  sufficient  for  a  mod- 
erate share  of  population  more  than  fifteen  years, 
and  then  it  would  be  out  of  the  question  to  think 
of  using  any  of  it  in  manufactories,  consequently 
their  houses  would  be  built  entirely  of  mud-brick 
(like  those  of  New  Spain)  or  of  the  brick  manufac- 


22  KANSAS. 

tured  with  fire.  But  possibly  time  may  make  dis- 
coveries of  coal  mines,  which  would  render  the 
country  habitable." 

With  the  establishment  of  American  occupancy 
an  era  of  migration  set  in  through  Kansas  toward 
the  Pacific  slope  —  a  migration  at  first  slender, 
capricious,  and  without  system,  but  acquiring  ulti- 
mately volume,  method,  and  persistence  sufficient 
to  imprint  clear-cut  trails  sheer  across  the  mighty 
plains.  Traders,  eager  to  seize  upon  new  and  in- 
viting avenues  of  commerce  ;  travelers,  ambitious 
to  compel  the  half  unknown  world  beyond  the 
Missouri  to  yield  up  its  secrets;  Kearney's  sol- 
diers, with  greedy  eyes  fixed  on  New  Mexico ;  Mor- 
mons, fleeing  into  the  wilderness  before  the  wrath 
of  civilization ;  gold-hunters,  aflame  with  visions 
of  sudden  wealth  among  the  mines  of  California, 
—  such  was  the  heterogeneous,  intermittent  mob 
that  trooped  across  Kansas  during  the  years  im- 
mediately preceding  the  Kansas-Nebraska  legisla- 
tion. 

At  the  time  of  organization  the  territory  was  an 
Indian  reservation,  inhabited  by  about  a  score  of 
native  and  imported  tribes,  among  which  a  white 
population  of  six  or  seven  hundred  civilians  had 
drifted,  who  congregated  mainly  around  the  mili- 
tary stations,  the  trading  posts,  and  the  half  dozen 
denominational  mission  schools.  The  Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill  ejected  the  Indians  from  their  homes 
and  sent  them  elsewhere.  This  consideration  was 


THE  FIELD.  23 

not  overlooked  by  its  opponents.  Edward  Everett 
protested  in  polished  phrase.  Senator  Bell  of  Ten- 
nessee denounced  federal  unfaith  in  the  matter  of 
Indian  treaties,  which  "  set  aside  at  our  discretion 
and  trample  under  foot  the  most  explicit  and  sol- 
emn guarantees."  General  Sam  Houston  made 
an  impassioned  plea  in  behalf  of  Indian  rights, 
but  the  spoliating  measure  could  not  be  arrested. 
The  aborigines  were  successfully  bargained  out 
of  the  way.  Some  of  them  removed  at  once,  and 
others  more  leisurely. 

Thus  in  the  heart  of  the  nation  there  was  staked 
off  a  great  territory  for  experiments  in  popular 
sovereignty  as  a  Union-saving  expedient,  a  terri- 
tory substantially  unhistoried,  with  no  intrusive, 
meddlesome  past  that  could  mar  the  trial.  Thither 
hurried  partisans  of  the  North  and  South  —  repre- 
sentatives of  incompatible  civilizations  —  to  take 
a  hand  in  the  impending  struggle.  It  was  a  cross- 
purposed  and  variorum  migration,  —  hirelings,  ad- 
venturers, blatherskites,  fanatics,  reformers,  phi- 
lanthropists, patriots.  That  such  a  medley  of 
humanity,  recruited  from  Moosehead  Lake  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  responsive  to  all  the  sectional  ani- 
mosities which  distracted  and  imperiled  the  coun- 
try, conscious  after  some  vague  sort  that  great 
destinies  might  hinge  upon  their  mission,  would 
transform  the  wilderness  of  Kansas  into  an  imme- 
diate Utopia  was  hardly  to  be  anticipated. 
"  So  foul  a  sky  clears  not  without  a  storm." 


CHAPTER  III. 

DRIVING  DOWN   STAKES. 

WESTERN  Missouri,  containing  in  1854  fifty 
thousand  slaves,  worth  at  a  moderate  valuation 
twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  was  fully  awake 
to  the  momentous  social  and  political  perils  that 
lurked  in  the  compromise  of  1820.  Throughout 
that  region  an  uneasy,  apprehensive,  feverish  state 
of  affairs  existed.  The  declaration  of  a  large  and 
representative  pro-slavery  convention  at  Lexing- 
ton, Missouri,  in  July,  1855,  that  "  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  restriction  in  the  settlement  of  Kansas 
was  virtually  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Missouri," 
gave  formal  expression  to  convictions  that  had 
gradually  become  general. 

Leadership  in  these  graver  exigencies  fell  mainly 
upon  David  R.  Atchison,  senator  from  Missouri 
during  the  years  1841-55,  a  man  of  commanding 
presence,  social,  generous,  passionate,  a  stump 
orator  of  no  mean  order.  "  Senator  Atchison 
.  .  .  may  be  considered  the  exponent  of  South- 
ern opinion,"  said  "  Lynceus  "  in  "  Letters  for 
the  People  on  the  Present  Crisis,"  writing  at 
St.  Louis,  September  7,  1853.  "  In  speeches  he 
has  been  making  in  various  portions  of  the  State 


DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES.  25 

he  is  reported  as  taking  the  ground  .  .  .  that 
he  will  fight  the  admission  of  Nebraska  unless  it 
.  .  .  shall  come  in  as  a  slave  territory,  or,  at 
least,  with  the  question  left  open  and  all  done 
to  foster  slavery  that  is  possible."  Atchison  de- 
nounced the  restriction,  and  painted  with  a  heavy 
brush  the  calamities  that  would  follow  if  aboli- 
tionists should  get  a  footing  in  Kansas.  On  this 
point  the  Lexington  convention  faithfujly  echoed 
his  sentiments  —  "a  horde  of  our  western  savages 
with  avowed  purposes  of  destruction  would  be 
less  formidable  neighbors."  Atchison  thought 
that  the  interests  of  Missouri  required  nothing 
beyond  formal  repeal  of  the  offensive  legislation 
which  laid  restrictions  upon  slavery.  In  that 
event  Missouri  would  be  able  to  take  care  of  her- 
self, and  of  Kansas  also. 

The  Missouri  border  abounded  in  igneous  and 
explosive  materials.  Typical  Southern  folk  of 
the  better  grade,  intelligent,  hospitable,  courteous, 
high-minded,  were  not  wanting.  Yet  other  sorts 
of  humanity  had  large  representation :  numerous 
and  unhappy  varieties  of  "  white  trash,"  demoral- 
ized veterans  of  the  Mexican  war,  adventurers 
graduated  from  the  plains  or  the  mountains  of  Col- 
orado or  the  mining  camps  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
-  thoughtless,  passionate,  whiskey-guzzling,  guf- 
fawing, unconventional  men 

"  Who  meeting  Caesar's  self,  would  slap  his  back, 
Call  him  '  Old  horse  '  aud  challenge  to  a  drink." 


26  KANSAS. 

The  border  experienced  a  boisterous  revival  of 
pro-slaveryism,  and  the  reputation  of  abolitionists, 
never  very  high  thereabouts,  sank  into  utter  dis- 
credit. 

No  sooner  had  President  Pierce  signed  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill  than  companies  of  Missou- 
rians  pushed  into  Kansas  and  seized  upon  exten- 
sive tracts  of  the  best  lands,  not  waiting,  in  some 
cases,  for  the  Indians  to  get  out  of  the  way.  A 
convenient  simplicity  marked  their  proceedings. 
The  laws  of  preemption,  literally  interpreted,  re- 
quired the  erection  of  cabins  and  periods  of  actual 
residence :  but  exigencies  are  unfriendly  to  restric- 
tive and  dilatory  technicalities.  At  all  events, 
they  must  not  be  allowed  to  imperil  great  public 
interests.  That  the  squatter  should  simply  notch 
a  few  trees  in  evidence  of  occupancy,  or  arrange 
half-a-dozen  rails  upon  the  ground  and  call  it  a 
cabin,  or  post  a  scrawl  claiming  proprietorship  and 
threatening  to  shoot  intermeddlers  at  sight,  seems 
to  have  been  all  that  was  considered  absolutely 
essential.  These  energetic  first-comers  were  mostly 
amateur  immigrants,  —  men  who  bestirred  them- 
selves in  the  interest  of  slavery  rather  than  at  the 
solicitation  of  personal  concerns,  who  proposed  to 
reside  in  Missouri,  but  to  vote  and  fight  in  Kansas 
should  necessity  arise  for  such  duality. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1854,  more  than  six  weeks 
before  the  arrival  of  the  earliest  New  England 
colony,  though  disquieting  rumors  of  invasion 


DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES.  27 

from  the  East  had  begun  to  be  rife,  there  was 
a  convention  of  pro-slavery  men  at  Salt  Creek 
Valley  to  discuss  territorial  affairs.  The  senti- 
ments of  this  initial  Kansas  convention,  —  forerun- 
ner of  an  enormous  brood  of  partisan  meetings,  — 
sentiments  loudly  chorused  by  the  whole  pack  of 
border  newspapers,  took  form  in  a  series  of  twelve 
resolutions  which,  in  addition  to  considerable 
frank  advice  for  the  benefit  of  abolitionists,  an- 
nounced that  slavery  already  existed  in  Kansas, 
and  urged  its  friends  to  lose  no  time  in  strength- 
ening and  extending  it  to  the  utmost. 

Missouri  leaders  perceived  the  necessity  and  the 
expediency  of  immediately  flooding  Kansas  with 
slaves.  They  believed  at  that  time  and  still  be- 
lieve, that  this  strategy,  courageously  and  persist- 
ently prosecuted,  would  have  won  the  day.  Dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1854-55,  B.  F.  Stringfellow 
visited  Washington  in  the  interest  of  an  extensive 
slave-colonization.  He  unfolded  the  project  in  a 
conference  of  prominent  Southern  congressmen, 
and  showed  that  servile  labor  could  not  be  less  suc- 
cessful in  Kansas  than  in  Missouri,  a  notably 
prosperous  commonwealth  ;  that  the  territorial 
crisis  called  as  loudly  for  negroes  as  for  voters. 
"  Two  thousand  slaves,"  urged  Stringfellow,  "  ac- 
tually lodged  in  Kansas  will  make  a  slave  state 
out  of  it.  Once  fairly  there,  nobody  will  disturb 
them."  This  not  unpromising  scheme  elicited 
ample  pledges  of  cooperation,  not  one  of  which 
was  ever  redeemed. 


28  KANSAS. 

Several  pro-slavery  towns  sprang  up  in  the  terri- 
tory, situated  principally  on  the  Missouri  River  be- 
tween Kansas  City  and  the  Nebraska  line :  Kicka- 
poo,  a  savage,  implacable  little  burg,  containing  in 
its  palmiest  days  twenty-five  or  thirty  cabins,  now 
utterly  collapsed  ;  Atchison,  christened  in  honor  of 
the  Missouri  senator,  second  only  to  Kickapoo  in 
political  venom,  but  unlike  that  almost  expunged 
hamlet  surviving  its  early  mistakes  and  growing 
into  the  most  important  town  in  northeastern 
Kansas;  Leavenworth,  ruled  mainly  though  not 
wholly  by  Southern  sentiment,  which  more  than 
once  maddened  into  deeds  of  brutal  violence,  sur- 
passing all  Kansas  rivals,  during  the  first  quarter 
century  of  its  history,  in  population  and  commer- 
cial importance ;  Lecompton,  somewhat  inland, 
political  headquarters  of  the  pro-slavery  party, 
blighted  in  its  downfall,  rudely  awakened  from 
brilliant  dreams  to  the  realities  of  a  ragged, 
straggling  frontier  village. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1854,  rumors  that  pow- 
erful capitalized  societies  were  forming  in  New 
England  for  the  purpose  of  sending  anti-slavery 
colonies  to  Kansas  alarmed  the  people  of  western 
Missouri,  and  suggested  doubts  whether  the  re- 
peal of  the  old  restrictive  compromise  legislation 
would  eventually  prove  as  fortunate  for  their  in- 
terests as  they  dreamed.  They  had  looked  upon 
Kansas  as  an  easy,  inevitable  prey,  a  likelihood 
almost  universally  conceded  throughout  the  North- 


DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES.  29 

ern  States.  "  The  fate  of  Kansas  was  sealed,"  said 
"  The  Liberator  "  of  July  13th,  1855,  "  the  very 
moment  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  repealed." 

In  the  midst  of  general  despondency  it  oc- 
curred to  Eli  Thayer,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts, 
that  the  public  had  misread  the  situation ;  that 
apparent  disasters  were  only  successes  disguised ; 
that  the  calamities  befallen  the  anti-slavery  cause 
in  Congress  might  be  retrieved  by  tactics  of  organ- 
ized emigration,  —  a  contest  in  which  the  South- 
ern oligarchy,  much-cumbered  and  heavily  shod, 
could  not  cope  with  freedom  in  its  nimbler  move- 
ments. While  the  congressional  struggle  was  in 
progress,  before  the  fate  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill  had  been  settled,  he  wrote  out  a  constitution 
for  the  "  Massachusetts  Emigrant  Aid  Company  " 
and  procured  a  legislative  charter.  Thayer  orig- 
inally contemplated  a  formidable  corporation, 
with  a  capital  of  five  millions  of  dollars,  by  which 
he  expected  to  control  migration  —  the  vast  west- 
ering flux  of  natives  as  well  as  foreigners  —  in  the 
interest  of  liberty ;  to  marshal  it  against  the  ag- 
gressions of  the  South  ;  to  secure  the  territories  in 
the  first  place,  and  then  turn  his  revolutionizing 
agencies  upon  the  slave  states  themselves. 

The  public  declined  to  embark  in  this  wholesale 
and  magnificent  project.  Abolitionists  repudiated 
expedients  of  colonization  as  "  false  in  principle," 
and  able  to  compass  at  best  only  "  a  transplanted 
Massachusetts,"  —  a  futile  and  unworthy  consum- 


30  KANSAS. 

mation,  since  even  "  the  original  Massachusetts  has 
been  tried  and  found  wanting," —  while  the  gen- 
eral skepticism  took  practical  and  disastrous  shape 
in  failure  of  contributions.  The  enterprise  was 
verging  toward  financial  collapse  when  Amos  A. 
Lawrence,  of  Boston,  came  to  the  rescue  and  ad- 
vanced out  of  his  own  pocket  the  funds  necessary 
to  put  life  into  it. 

No  organization  was  ever  effected  under  the 
first  charter.  It  saddled  objectionable  monetary 
liabilities  upon  the  individuals  who  might  associ- 
ate under  it,  and  was  abandoned.  The  whole  busi- 
ness then  passed  into  the  hands  of  Thayer,  Law- 
rence, and  J.  M.  S.  Williams,  who  were  consti- 
tuted trustees,  and  managed  affairs  in  a  half  per- 
sonal fashion  until  February,  1855,  when  a  second 
charter  was  obtained  and  an  association  formed 
early  in  March  with  slightly  rephrased  title  — 
"  The  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Company  " 
and  with  John  Carter  Brown,  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  as  president.  In  the  conduct  of  the  com- 
pany, the  trustees  who  bridged  the  interval  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  charters  continued  to 
be  a  chief  directive  and  inspirational  force.  Mr. 
Thayer  preached  the  gospel  of  organized  emigra- 
tion with  tireless  and  successful  enthusiasm,  while 
Mr.  Lawrence  discharged  the  burdensome  but  all- 
important  duties  of  treasurer.  Among  the  twenty 
original  directors  were  Dr.  Samuel  Cabot,  Jr.,  John 
Lowell,  and  William  B.  Spooner,  Boston ;  J.  P. 


DRIVING   DOWN  STAKES.  31 

Williston,  Northampton ;  Charles  H.  Bigelow, 
Lawrence,  and  Nathan  Durfee,  Fall  River.  The 
list  of  directors  was  subsequently  enlarged  to 
thirty-eight,  and  included  the  additional  names  of 
Dr.  S.  G.  Howe,  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Bos- 
ton ;  George  L.  Stearns,  Medford ;  Horace  Bush- 
nell,  Hartford,  Connecticut ;  Prof.  Benj.  Silliman, 
Sr.,  New  Haven,  Connecticut ;  and  Moses  H.  Grin- 
nell,  New  York.  The  company  in  its  reorganized 
shape  receded,  at  least  temporarily,  from  all  whole- 
sale projects,  and  devoted  itself  to  the  problem  of 
planting  free-labor  towns  in  Kansas. 

The  facilities  offered  by  the  Boston  organiza- 
tion, in  addition  to  the  obvious  advantages  of  as- 
sociated effort,  were  reduction  in  cost  of  trans- 
portation, oversight  by  competent  conductors,  in- 
vestments of  capital  in  mills,  hotels,  and  other 
improvements  which  would  mitigate  and  abbrevi- 
ate the  hardships  of  pioneering.  Though  the  de- 
sign of  the  organization  was  frankly  avowed,  yet 
anybody,  whether  in  sympathy  with  its  mission  or 
not,  might  freely  avail  himself  of  its  advantages. 
The  obligations  of  the  emigrants  who  went  to 
Kansas  under  its  wing  were  wholly  implied  and 
informal.  Assuredly  it  offered  no  premium  for 
extremer  types  of  anti-slavery  men.  On  the  con- 
trary, a  Hunkerish  strain  of  conservatism  prevailed 
among  the  colonists  which  naturally  provoked  crit- 
icism. "  The  Liberator  "  of  June  1st,  1855,  speak- 
ing of  the  personnel  of  the  companies  already  sent 


32  KANSAS. 

on  to  Kansas,  remarked  that  "  hardly  a  single 
abolitionist  can  be  found  among  all  who  have  mi- 
grated to  that  country.  .  .  .  Before  they  emi- 
grated they  gave  little  or  no  countenance  to  the 
anti-slavery  cause  at  home.  ...  If  they  had  no 
pluck  here  what  could  rationally  be  expected  of 
them  in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  demoniacal 
spirit  of  slavery?  ...  To  place  any  reliance  on 
their  anti-slavery  zeal  or  courage  is  to  lean  upon  a 
broken  staff." 

The  number  of  colonists  who  reached  Kansas 
over  the  lines  of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Company  was 
not  large.  During  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1854  five  companies  were  dispatched,  which  com- 
prised a  total  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  souls. 
From  the  opening  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri 
River  in  1855  until  July  as  many  more  companies 
were  fitted  out,  though  the  numbers  fell  off  to  six 
hundred  and  thirty-five.  About  one  hundred  and 
forty  thousand  dollars  were  expended  first  and 
last  in  prosecution  of  Kansas  colonization. 

But  the  work  of  the  Boston  organization  cannot 
be  adequately  exhibited  by  arithmetical  com- 
putations. A  vital,  capital  part  of  it  lay  in  spheres 
where  mathematics  are  ineffectual  —  lay  in  its 
alighting  upon  a  feasible  method,  which  was 
copied  far  and  wide,  of  dealing  with  a  grave  polit- 
ical emergency,  and  in  the  backing  of  social  and 
monetary  prestige  that  it  secured  for  the  unknown 
pioneers  at  the  front. 


DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES.  33 

If  volume  and  bitterness  of  criticism  afford  any 
trustworthy  standard  by  which  its  efficiency  may 
be  tested,  the  Emigrant  Aid  Company  played  no 
subordinate  part  in  the  Kansas  struggle.  Doug- 
las declared  that  popular  sovereignty  was  struck 
down  "  by  unholy  combinations  in  New  England." 
In  the  opinion  of  Senator  J.  A.  Bayard,  of  Dela- 
ware, "  whatever  evil  or  loss  or  suffering  or  injury 
may  result  to  Kansas,  or  to  the  United  States  at 
large,  is  attributable  as  a  primary  cause  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society  of  Massachu- 
setts." Senator  Green,  of  Missouri,  said  in  1861, 
long  after  the  Kansas  question  had  been  practi- 
cally settled,  that  "  but  for  the  hot-bed  plants  that 
have  been  planted  in  Kansas  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society,  Kansas 
would  have  been  with  Missouri  this  day." 

The  principal  representative  of  the  Massachu- 
setts corporation  in  Kansas  —  the  man  who  sus- 
tained toward  it  the  most  intimate  and  confiden- 
tial relations,  and  who  mainly  shaped  its  politico- 
financial  policy  in  the  territory  —  was  Dr.  Charles 
Robinson,  of  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts.  To  him 
Kansas  was  not  wholly  an  unknown  region  when 
the  Emigrant  Aid  Company  commissioned  him  as 
its  agent.  In  1849  he  passed  across  it  on  an  over- 
land trip  to  California,  and  was  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  possibilities  of  the  country.  He 
participated  rather  prominently  in  the  stormy 
experiences  through  which  California  passed  in 


84  KANSAS. 

1849-51  —  experiences  which  Kansas  subsequently 
repeated  in  many  of  their  salient  features.  Both 
contests  sprang  up  on  the  border,  abounded  in 
anomalies  and  expedients  for  which  little  prece- 
dent could  be  cited,  and  exhibited  all  the  law- 
less, blustering,  open-throated  peculiarities  that 
distinguish  such  events.  Not  only  were  the  types 
and  sorts  of  humanity  involved  substantially  iden- 
tical, but  also,  in  a  degree  worthy  of  passing  notice, 
there  was  repetition  among  the  actors.  Missou- 
rians  in  particular  returned  betimes  from  the  Pa- 
cific coast  to  mingle  in  a  fray  nearer  home.  Rob- 
inson learned  an  effective  lesson  in  the  California 
school  for  the  Kansas  epoch. 

The  Emigrant  Aid  Company  planted  a  hand- 
ful of  towns  in  the  territory  —  Hampden,  which 
disappeared  after  a  little,  Wabaunsee,  Osawato- 
mie,  Manhattan,  Topeka,  and  Lawrence.  Of 
these  anti- slavery  villages  the  oldest,  and  for  a 
time  the  chief,  was  Lawrence.  Upon  the  first 
day  of  August,  1854,  the  pioneer  party,  twenty- 
nine  in  number,  sent  out  by  the  Boston  society, 
reached  the  spot  where  that  town  was  afterwards 
built.  The  directions  given  to  C.  H.  Branscomb, 
conductor  of  the  company,  were,  "  proceed  through 
the  Shawnee  Reservation  and  select  the  first  eli- 
gible site  on  the  south  side  of  the  Kansas  River." 
Six  weeks  later  a  second  expedition  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  members  arrived.  In  its  ear- 
liest and  rudimentary  stage  the  village  was  merely 


DRIVING  DOWN  STAKES.  35 

a  little  collection  of  tents.  Then  followed,  in  due 
time,  queer,  grass-thatched  huts,  copied  appar- 
ently from  African  kraal  village  models,  and  rude, 
squat,  mud-plastered  log-cabins,  beyond  which  the 
line  of  territorial  architecture  advanced  slowly 
and  with  difficulty. 

What  the  new  village  should  be  called  was  a 
matter  of  some  discussion.  For  a  while  it  had 
various  names  —  Wakarusa,  New  Boston,  Yankee 
Town.  Citizens  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  of- 
fered a  library  if  it  should  be  christened  Worces- 
ter. The  name  Lawrence  was  finally  agreed  upon 
in  honor  of  the  treasurer  of  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Company.  "  I  think  I  was  the  first  to  suggest  your 
name  for  the  city,"  Dr.  Robinson  wrote  Mr.  Law- 
rence October  16th,  1854  ;  "  though  I  have  never 
urged  it  at  all,  as  I  wished  every  person  to  be  sat- 
isfied in  his  own  mind.  .  .  .  Most  of  our  people 
are  very  much  attached  to  it,  and  after  I  explained 
your  course  in  connection  with  the  enterprise 
.  .  .  there  was  much  enthusiasm  manifested.  .  .  . 
A  committee  has  been  chosen  to  give  a  formal 
notice  of  the  naming  of  the  city." 

It  was  unavoidable  that  a  portion  of  the  immi- 
grants fetched  from  New  England  to  the  outposts 
of  civilization,  set  down  amidst  the  privations  and 
discomforts  of  pioneering  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  powerful  pro-slavery  communities  —  mutterings 
of  great  social  disturbances  singing  in  the  upper 
air  and  threatening  to  add  unknown  elements  of 


36  KANSAS. 

peril  to  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness  —  should 
give  way  to  homesickness  and  despair.  They  had 
dipped  their  hopes  in  the  magic  dyes  of  the  im- 
agination, had  pictured  to  themselves  some  re- 
stored paradise  on  the  wonderland  plains  of  Kan- 
sas ;  and  when  the  raw,  crude,  belligerent  reality 
dawned  upon  them,  they  shook  the  dust  of  the 
territory  from  their  feet  and  returned,  disgusted 
with  the  border,  to  their  old  homes.  But  the 
great  majority  of  colonists,  not  only  from  New 
England  but  also  from  other  Northern  States,  — 
men  and  women  little  given  to  irresolution,  cow- 
ardice, or  panic,  ruled  by  exacter,  less  romantic 
ideas,  —  were  not  unprepared  to  meet  the  trials 
of  the  wilderness  and  the  inevitable  hostility  of 
Missouri. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LESSONS   IN  POPULAR   SOVEREIGNTY. 

THE  first  territorial  governor  of  Kansas  was  An- 
drew H.  Reeder,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  mild,  easy, 
rhetorical,  admirable  man,  of  good  intellectual 
parts,  well  reputed  as  a  lawyer,  a  national  demo- 
crat, and  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty. A  complete  assortment  of  customary 
officials  —  judges,  secretaries,  marshals,  surveyors, 
land  commissioners  —  was  fitted  out  in  Washing- 
ton. One  or  two  gentlemen  of  leisure,  reckoning, 
though  wholly  without  their  host,  on  a  dearth  of 
local  candidates,  accompanied  these  dignitaries 
with  design  of  standing  for  any  desirable  office 
the  territory  might  offer. 

Reeder  arrived  at  Fort  Leavenworth  October 
7th,  where  a  public  reception — given  by  pro-slav- 
ery partisans,  who  viewed  the  new  governor  as 
nothing  more  than  their  tool  —  and  a  wordy,  noisy 
address  of  welcome  awaited  him.  In  responding, 
Reeder  pleasantly  referred  to  the  reception  as  "  a 
foreshadowing  of  kindness  and  confidence  "  which 
he  hoped  to  receive  from  citizens  of  the  territory. 
His  talk,  however,  was  not  wholly  given  over  to 


38  KANSAS. 

eulogy  and  congratulation.  The  spirit  of  violence 
which  was  already  beginning  to  stir  he  denounced 
with  the  fluent  boldness  and  confidence  of  inexpe- 
rience. "  I  pledge  you,"  he  said.  "  that  I  will  crush 
it  out  or  sacrifice  myself  in  the  effort."  It  was 
an  heroic  avowal  that  failed  to  kindle  any  enthu- 
siasm whatever  among  the  auditors. 

The  governor  sensibly  prefaced  his  work  in 
Kansas  by  a  tour  of  observation  which  consumed 
some  weeks.  He  was  anxious  to  get  his  knowl- 
edge at  first  hand  —  an  ambition  that  did  not  fa- 
vorably impress  the  gentry  concerned  in  the  Leav- 
enworth  reception.  They  regarded  themselves  as 
entirely  competent  and  were  more  than  willing 
to  furnish  information  on  any  point  of  Kansas  af- 
fairs. Then  followed  a  partition  of  the  territory 
into  districts,  and  the  election  of  a  delegate  to 
Congress  November  29th,  1854. 

This  first  Kansas  election  never  attained  the  no- 
toriety of  the  second,  which  took  place  four  months 
afterwards,  yet  both  experiences  present  the  same 
characteristic  features  —  large  and  elaborate  expe- 
ditions from  Missouri  to  stuff  territorial  ballot- 
boxes  with  illegal  votes.  No  defense  or  apology 
has  ever  been  put  forward  for  these  extraordinary 
proceedings  except  the  necessitarian  plea  of  fight- 
ing the  devil  with  fire.  The  opinion  universally 
entertained  on  the  border  in  1853  and  in  the  ear- 
lier months  of  1854,  that  the  safety  of  slavery  in 
Missouri  and  its  ultimate  expansion  into  Kansas 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          39 

would  be  assured  simply  by  the  repeal  of  restric- 
tive legislation,  showed  unmistakable  signs  of 
weakening  in  the  resolutions  adopted  at  Salt 
Creek  Valley.  Subsequent  events  tended  to  in- 
crease and  exasperate  the  alarm.  Rumors  now 
flew  thick  and  fast  on  evil  wings  that  the  Emi- 
grant Aid  Company  and  the  kindred  organiza- 
tions, which  sprang  up  with  a  tropical  luxuriance 
throughout  the  North,  were  pushing  "  military 
colonies  "  into  Kansas,  primarily  to  protect  it  from 
pro-slavery  inroads,  and  secondarily  to  attack  Mis- 
souri. It  is  true  that  the  Boston  company,  in  the 
enormous  breadth  of  its  original  scope,  mapped 
out  some  such  prospectus  which  gave  rise  to  dis- 
composing talk  on  the  border.  "  Free-state  men," 
said  B.  F.  Stringfellow,  "before  we  resorted  to 
aggressive  measures,  openly  boasted  in  the  streets 
of  Weston  that  they  would  drive  slavery  out  of 
Missouri."  Discussions  in  Congress  added  fuel  to 
the  fire,  and  as  a  consequence  there  was  no  small 
stir  along  the  border.  "  When  the  people  of  Mis- 
souri," said  Mordecai  Oliver,  defending  his  con- 
stituency in  the  House  of  Representatives,  "  saw 
these  proceedings  on  the  part  of  these  intermed- 
dlers  in  the  affairs  of  Kansas  and  in  contradiction 
of  the  principles  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  they 
were  roused  —  I  confess  it  and  confess  it  with  no 
spirit  of  humiliation,  but  with  pride  and  to  the 
honor  of  my  people  —  they  were  roused  to  an  in- 
dignation that  knew  no  bounds." 


40  KANSAS. 

Anger  is  well  enough  in  its  place,  but  it  would 
have  been  wise  for  these  furious  Missourians  to 
make  sure  of  their  ground  before  proceeding  to 
extremities.  A  little  investigation  would  have 
established  the  fact  that  the  Emigrant  Aid  Com- 
pany never  bought  a  firelock  or  furnished  its 
patrons  with  warlike  equipments  of  any  sort ; 
that  it  simply  opened  a  western  emigrant  agency, 
—  a  perfectly  legitimate  transaction  which  broke 
none  of  the  commandments  ethical,  political,  or 
interstate.  Though  at  a  later  day  —  after  the 
first  two  election  experiences  —  members  of  the 
corporation  in  a  private,  individual  way  contrib- 
uted freely  toward  the  purchase  of  Sharpe's  rifles 
for  the  use  of  free-state  settlers,  the  corporation 
itself  religiously  held  fast,  through  the  whole 
period  of  its  operations,  to  the  unmilitary  func- 
tions of  an  ordinary  transportation  bureau.  Had 
the  Missourians  followed  the  Massachusetts  ex- 
ample and  poured  into  Kansas  as  actual  settlers 
rather  than  as  crusading  ballot-box  stuffers,  their 
fortunes  would  have  thrived  the  better. 

There  was  comparatively  little  at  stake  in  the 
election  of  November  29th  —  nothing  more  than 
the  choice  of  a  delegate  to  Congress,  and  that 
for  a  fractional  term.  Besides,  the  pro-slavery 
candidate,  J.  W.  Whitfield,  a  tall,  strongly-made, 
rather  prepossessing  but  thick -tongued  Tennes- 
sean,  holding  the  office  of  Indian  agent,  was  not 
particularly  objectionable.  Whatever  partisan 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          41 

sentiments  he  may  have  cherished  were  kept  out 
of  sight,  and  unquestionably  he  would  have  been 
elected,  had  the  Missourians  stayed  at  home. 
But  rumor  and  demagogues  roundly  abused  the 
ear  of  the  border.  Western  Missouri  was  armed 
and  equipped  to  assail  abolitionists  in  the  ter- 
ritory. For  this  purpose  Blue  Lodges  —  a  species 
of  semi  -  secret,  counter  -  Massachusetts  societies 
designed  to  operate  at  Kansas  elections  —  had 
been  extensively  organized.  To  allow  so  much 
froth  and  fume,  so  much  stir  and  alarm,  to  end  in 
nothing  might  present  an  uncomfortable  parallel 
to  the  historic  feat  of  marching  up  the  hill  and 
then  marching  down  again.  The  leaders  chose  to 
do  something  superfluous  rather  than  nothing  at 
all.  The  29th  of  November  at  all  events  would 
afford  opportunity  for  a  little  experimenting  to 
see  what  seeds  of  promise  lay  in  the  Blue  Lodges. 
So  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty-nine  Missouri- 
ans invaded  different  election  districts  and  cast 
as  many  gratuitous  ballots  for  Whitfield,  who 
received  his  credentials  and  appeared  in  Wash- 
ington as  the  first  congressional  delegate  from 
Kansas,  but  was  not  allowed  to  take  his  seat. 

The  incursion  from  Missouri  was  not  the  only 
original  suffrage  feature  of  the  election.  Rumors 
got  abroad  that  Whitfield  designed  to  impress  an 
aboriginal "  Native  American  "  vote  into  his  ser- 
vice. The  fact  of  his  being  an  Indian  agent  lent 
plausibility  to  the  canard.  Some  enterprising 


42  KANSAS. 

Yankee  hit  upon  an  expedient  to  forestall  any  ad- 
vantage that  the  pro-slavery  party  might  expect 
from  extensions  of  the  franchise  in  that  quarter. 
Learning  that  a  certain  Delaware  chief  had  re- 
cently enunciated  his  views  on  the  relative  merits 
of  Yankees  and  Missourians  —  "  Good  man  — 
heap  —  Yankee  town.  Missouri  —  bad  —  heap 

—  heap  —  heap  !  —  d — n  um  "  —  it  occurred  to 
him  that  here  might  possibly  be  a  neglected  field 
of  politics  worth  cultivating.     Unfortunately  his 
bright  thoughts  were   somewhat  belated.     They 
did  not  fairly  dawn  upon   him  until  the  evening 
before  election.     However,  he  rode  over  to  the 
Delaware  Reservation  in  the  morning,  assembled 
the  braves,  and  expounded  to  them  their  unap- 
preciated political  privileges  ;   confidently  argued 
their  right  to  vote,  and  proposed  that  they  should 
instantly  assert  it  at  the  election  in  progress  that 
very  day.     The  Indians  drew  off  by  themselves 
and  entered  upon  a  council  over  the  matter  which 
went  on  interminably  without  apparent  signs  of 
conclusion.     The  opportunity  for  "  Native  Amer- 
ican "  or  for  any  other  phase  of  suffrage  was  rap- 
idly  disappearing,   and   at   last   the   exasperated 
Yankee,  in  no  very  conciliatory  or  complimentary 
dialect,  demanded  some  sort  of  answer.    Finally, 
the  oldest  chief  arose  and,  appareled  in  a  solemnity 
never  surpassed  by  the  judiciary  of  Tartarus,  said 

—  "  Tinkum  four  days  —  den  vote  heap  —  heap- 
um  !  —  sometime  —  may  be  !  " 


LESSONS   IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          43 

But  the  most  astonishing  exhibition  of  pop- 
ular sovereignty  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1855. 
During  the  preceding  February  the  authorities 
took  a  census  of  the  territory,  which  showed  a 
population  of  8,601.  There  were  figured  out 
2,905  voters,  a  majority  of  whom  came  from 
slave  states.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  made  effec- 
tive use  of  this  fact  in  a  speech  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  July  31st,  1856.  "  This  census," 
he  said,  "  gives  the  name  of  each  resident  legal 
voter  in  the  territory  thirty  days  before  the  March 
election.  ...  I  have  counted  every  name  on  the 
census  roll  and  noted  the  section  of  country  from 
which  the  settler  migrated,  and  I  find  that  of 
those  who  were  registered  as  legal  voters  of  the 
territory  in  February,  a  month  before  the  elec- 
tion, 1,670  were  from  Southern  States  and  only 
1,018  from  the  entire  North.  There  were  217 
from  other  countries.  .  .  .  The  inference  which  I 
draw  from  these  facts  is  that  there  was  a  decided 
majority  of  anti-Free-Soilers  in  the  territory  .  .  . 
in  the  month  of  February."  Mr.  Stephens  erred 
in  classing  all  immigrants  from  Southern  States 
as  pro-slavery  in  sentiment.  A  not  inconsiderable 
element  among  them  preferred  that  Kansas  should 
become  a  free  state. 

Both  sides  appreciated  the  importance  of  secur- 
ing the  legislature  which  was  to  be  elected  March 
30th.  Success  in  that  matter  would  be  a  decisive 
victory.  In  Missouri  the  excitement  surpassed  all 


44  KANSAS. 

foregoing  experiences.  The  orators  were  abroad 
in  their  most  tempestuous  mood,  denouncing  abo- 
litionists and  Eastern  corporations  that  sought  to 
fang  the  heart  of  Missouri  as  with  the  tooth  of  a 
viper.  Voting  machineries  had  been  tested  and 
worked  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  experts  who 
devised  them.  To  meet  the  present  emergency, 
it  was  only  necessary  to  put  on  a  little  higher 
pressure.  Blue  Lodges  bestirred  themselves  en- 
ergetically. There  were  recruitings,  organizations 
of  companies,  drills,  armings,  as  if  some  great 
military  expedition  were  afoot.  Those  who  could 
not  give  personal  attention  to  the  preservation  of 
law  and  the  purity  of  public  franchise  in  Kansas 
were  exhorted  to  assist  in  paying  the  bills.  At  a 
meeting  in  Boonesville,  held  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  money  and  enthusiasm,  a  half-tipsy  planter 
stumbled  up  to  the  speaker's  table,  and,  flinging 
down  a  thousand  dollars,  said,  —  "I  've  just  sold  a 
nigger  for  that,  and  I  reckon  it 's  about  my  share 
towards  cleaning  out  the  dog-gauned  Yankees." 

The  Missouri  expounders  of  popular  sovereignty 
marched  into  Kansas  to  assist  in  the  election  of  a 
territorial  legislature  —  an  unkempt,  sun-dried, 
blatant,  picturesque  mob  of  five  thousand  men 
with  guns  upon  their  shoulders,  revolvers  stuffing 
their  belts,  bowie-knives  protruding  from  their 
boot-tops,  and  generous  rations  of  whiskey  in  their 
wagons. 

Six  thousand  three   hundred  and  seven  votes 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.  45 

were  polled  on  this  memorable  30th  of  March  elec- 
tion —  nearly  eighty  per  cent,  of  them  by  Mis- 
sourians,  who,  of  course,  swept  the  boards.  In  a 
military  point  of  view  the  expedition  was  man- 
aged effectively,  and  succeeded  in  distributing  pro- 
slavery  voters  through  the  territory  in  such  bulks 
as  were  needed  to  overcome  opposition.  The  in- 
vaders did  not,  as  a  general  rule,  molest  actual  res- 
idents unless  they  showed  fight.  Judges  of  elec- 
tion who  meekly  accepted  the  situation  and  re- 
ceived all  ballots  offered  were  seldom  set  aside. 
In  cases  where  they  objected  to  Missourian  the- 
ories of  suffrage  they  were  promptly  removed, 
and  their  places  supplied  by  men  whose  scruples 
of  conscience  did  not  lie  in  that  direction. 

At  Lawrence  there  was  an  illustration  of  the 
milder  sort  of  displacement.  One  of  the  judges 
insisted  that  the  first  Missourian  who  presented 
himself  at  the  polls  should  swear  that  he  re- 
sided in  Kansas.  The  fellow  hesitated.  He  evi- 
dently stumbled  at  the  ethics,  lately  sanctioned 
by  high  pro-slavery  authority,  that  in  dealing 
with  abolitionists  scruples  of  conscience  were  an 
impertinence.  The  leader  of  the  gang,  seeing 
there  promised  to  be  an  awkward  hitch  in  the 
programme,  ordered  him  to  retire  and  presented 
himself  at  the  polls,  that  the  on-looking  crowd 
might  have  the  benefit  of  his  elucidating  and  in- 
spiring example.  "  Are  you  a  resident  of  Kan- 
sas?" asked  the  election  judge.  "I  am,"  the 


46  KANSAS. 

Missourian  replied.  "  Does  your  family  live  in 
Kansas  ?  "  persisted  the  former.  "  It  is  none  of 
your  business.  If  you  don't  keep  your  imperti- 
nence to  yourself  I  '11  knock  your  d — d  head  from 
your  shoulders."  The  judge,  considering  his  use- 
fulness gone,  retired,  and  thenceforward  everybody 
voted  who  felt  so  disposed. 

At  Bloomington  there  was  an  exceptionally  suc- 
cessful Bedlam.  The  judges  exhibited  obstinacy 
which  yielded  only  to  an  active  revolver  and 
bowie-knife  treatment.  They  persisted  in  theo- 
ries of  suffrage  altogether  too  illiberal  and  nar- 
row for  the  times.  It  was  intimated  that  their 
resignations  would  be  accepted  —  a  hint  which 
they  neglected  to  act  upon.  Finally,  to  expedite 
aifairs,  a  borderer  drew  his  watch  and  announced 
a  five  minutes'  period  of  grace  —  then  resignations 
or  death.  The  five  minutes  expired  and  nothing 
had  been  done.  An  extension  of  one  minute  was 
allowed,  during  which  the  judges  decamped. 

In  the  main  there  was  but  slight  occasion  for 
anything  beyond  a  savage  pretense  of  violence. 
Numbers,  bluster,  profanity,  and  a  liberal  display 
of  fighting-gear  completely  cowed  opposition.  The 
visiting  voters  returned  to  Missouri,  feverish  with 
triumph — "We've  made  a  clean  sweep  this  time." 
Border  newspapers  rioted  in  extravagances  of  fe- 
licitation. "  Abolitionism  is  rebuked,"  one  of 
them  screamed,  "her  fortress  stormed,  her  flag 
draggling  in  the  dust."  But  dashing  into  the  ter- 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          47 

ritory  with  a  braggart,  rub-a-dub  publicity,  and 
casting  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eight 
votes  in  a  total  of  six  thousand  three  hundred  and 
seven,  turned  out  to  be  a  ruinously  expensive  vic- 
tory. 

In  Western  Missouri  the  policy  of  invasion  re- 
ceived a  practically  unanimous  support.  Dissent 
meant  trouble  for  the  dissenter.  It  drew  suspicion 
and  unpopularity  upon  him  if  nothing  worse.  The 
u  Parkville  Luminary,"  venturing  to  question  dis- 
tantly and  mildly  the  expediency  of  forcing  slav- 
ery upon  Kansas,  was  summarily  quenched  in  the 
Missouri  River.  Now  and  then  an  intrepid,  out- 
spoken man,  with  clearer,  less  jaundiced  vision 
than  his  neighbors,  made  head  against  the  univer- 
sal frenzy.  One  person  of  this  stamp,  old  Tom 
Thorpe,  of  Platte  County,  Missouri  (a  remark- 
able specimen  of  frontier  independence),  appeared 
before  the  Congressional  Investigating  Committee 
in  1856.  "  Whenever  there  was  an  election  in 
the  territory,"  Mr.  Thorpe  testified,  "  they  were 
fussin'  roun'  an'  gettin'  up  companies  to  go,  an' 
gettin'  hosses  an'  wagins.  They  come  to  me  to 
subscribe,  but  I  tole  'em  that  I  was  down  on  this 
thing  of  votin'  over  in  the  territory,  an'  that  Tom 
Thorpe  did  n't  subscribe  to  no  such  fixins.  They 
jawed  me  too  about  it  —  they  did  ;  but  I  reckon 
they  found  old  Tom  Thorpe  could  give  as  good  as 
he  got.  They  tole  the  boys  they  wanted  to  make 
Kansas  a  slave  state ;  an'  they  tole  'em  the  abo- 


48  KANSAS. 

litionists  war  a  commin'  in  ;  an'  that  the  Emigrant 
Aid  Society  Company  &  Co.  war  pitchin'  in ;  an' 
they  'd  better  too.  You  see  they  took  the  boys 
over,  an'  they  got  plenty  liquor,  an'  plenty  to  eat, 
an'  they  got  over  free  ferry.  Lots  an'  slivers  on 
'em  went.  A  heap  o'  respectable  folks  went  with 
them.  There  's  Dr.  Tibbs,  lives  over  in  Platte, 
he  used  to  go,  an'  you  see  they  'lected  him.  The 
boys  tole  me  one  time  when  they  come  back  — 
says  they  '  We  've  'lected  Dr.  Tibbs  to  the  legis- 
lature ; '  an'  says  I  4  Is  it  the  state  or  the  terri- 
tory ?  '  An'  says  they  '  The  territory.'  Says  I, 
'  Boys,  ain't  this  a  puttin'  it  on  too  thick  ?  It 's  a 
darned  sight  too  mean  enough  to  go  over  there 
and  vote  for  them  fellers,  but  to  put  in  a  man 
who  don't  live  there  is  all -fired  outrageous.' 
There  's  my  own  nephew  —  he  come  all  the  way 
up  from  Howard  County  to  vote.  He  come  over 
to  see  me  an'  our  folks  as  he  went  along.  I  says 
to  him  —  says  I,  '  Jim  Thorpe,  hain't  you  nothin' 
better  to  do  than  to  come  way  up  to  vote  in  the  ter- 
ritory? '  Well  he  tole  me  that  they  want  buisy 
at  home,  an'  that  they  got  a  dollar  a  day  an' 
liquor;  an'  says  I,  'Stop,  Jim  Thorpe,  that  's 
enough ;  you  can't  stay  here  in  my  house  to-night 
an'  nobody  can  that  goes  for  votin'  in  the  terri- 
tory. I  tell  you  what,  boy,  I  've  always  been 
down  on  that  kind  o'  thing.  I  ain't  no  abolition- 
ist neither.  I  tell  you  I  'm  pro-slave.  I  'm  dyed 
in  the  wool  an'  can't  make  a  free-soiler ;  but  mind 


LESSONS   IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          49 

what  I  say,  if  the  boys  keep  a  cuttin'  up  so  I  '11 
come  over  to  the  territory  an'  'nitiate  Betsey.'  ' 

The  events  of  March  30th  disturbed  free-state 
settlers  profoundly,  and  well  they  might.  Dr. 
Robinson  wrote  A.  A.  Lawrence  April  4th  — 
"  the  election  is  awful,  and  will  no  doubt  be  set 
aside.  So  says  the  governor,  although  his  life  is 
threatened  if  he  does  n't  comply  with  the  Missou- 
rians'  demands.  I  with  others  shall  act  as  his 
body-guard." 

But  there  was  no  general  movement  of  protest 
against  the  irregularities  of  the  election.  From 
six  only  of  the  eighteen  election  districts  did 
remonstrances  appear.  This  was  a  negligence  that 
the  "  Democratic  Review  "  energetically  rebuked. 
"  What  did  the  Free-Soilers  do  ?  Did  they  pro- 
test ?  Did  they  deny  the  legality  of  the  votes  ? 
Not  a  bit.  .  .  .  There  was  an  admirable  chance 
for  Free-Soilers  to  prove  how  much  they  loved  or- 
der, law,  and  regulated  freedom.  It  could  hardly 
be  supposed  that  they  would  miss  so  fine  a  chance 
to  immortalize  their  law-abiding  tendencies.  But 
really  and  truly  they  let  it  slip.  They  were  drowsy 
over  it.  Jupiter  nodded." 

There  was  some  excuse.  It  lay  in  the  isolation 
of  the  little  towns,  in  difficulties  of  communica- 
tion necessary  to  concerted  action,  and  in  the  haz- 
ard that  attended  the  business.  One  man  who 
was  active  in  pushing  a  protest  got  into  trouble. 
William  Phillips,  a  Leavenworth  lawyer,  promi- 

4 


50  KANSAS. 

nent  in  an  effort  to  have  the  election  canceled, 
because,  among  other  things,  "  the  New  Lucy,  a 
boat,  on  the  morning  of  the  day  of  election  started 
for  Leavenworth  from  Weston  with  citizens  of 
Missouri,"  who  "  did  vote  at  the  polls  of  the  six- 
teenth district,  and  then  immediately  returned 
on  said  boat  to  Missouri,"  was  brutally  mobbed. 
As  a  sequel  to  tar  and  feathers,  head  -  shaving, 
and  riding  on  a  rail,  a  negro  sold  the  unfortunate 
lawyer  at  auction  —  "  How  much,  gentlemen,  for 
a  full-blooded  abolitionist,  dyed  in  de  wool,  tar 
and  feathers  and  all  ?  How  much,  gentlemen  ? 
He  '11  go  at  the  first  bid."  This  wretched  out- 
rage, if  we  may  believe  the  "Kansas  Herald," 
published  at  Leavenworth,  sent  a  thrill  of  delight 
through  the  community. 

Rumors  that  Governor  Reeder  designed  to  set 
aside  the  entire  election,  or  at  least  to  refuse  cer- 
tificates to  a  large  number  of  candidates  whom  the 
judges  of  elections  had  declared  elected,  blasted 
whatever  personal  popularity  he  might  still  retain 
among  the  Missourians.  The  alienation  which 
began  with  the  reception  festivities  at  Fort  Leav- 
enworth had  constantly  widened  and  deepened. 
Now,  in  the  waxing  bitterness,  pro-slavery  men 
freely  coupled  threats  with  denunciations.  Some 
talked  of  "  hemping  "  the  scoundrel,  while  others 
felt  more  like  "cutting  his  throat  from  ear  to 
ear." 

On  the  5th  of  April  Governor  Reeder  heard 


LESSONS   IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          51 

protests  and  canvassed  returns.  Beweaponed  gen- 
try representing  both  factions  thronged  the  exec- 
utive office.  Free -state  men,  with  their  slender 
list  of  remonstrances,  insisted  that  the  election 
should  be  canceled,  and  another  ordered  under 
precautions  which  would  make  a  second  30th 
of  March  impossible.  Charges  of  illegal  voting 
they  themselves  did  not  entirely  escape,  arising 
mainly  from  the  circumstance  that  a  party  of 
Eastern  immigrants  reached  Lawrence  on  the  day 
of  election,  some  of  whom,  it  was  alleged,  voted 
notwithstanding  the  brevity  of  their  residence  in 
Kansas.  A  few  of  the  new-comers,  alarmed  by 
the  threatening  aspect  of  affairs,  immediately 
fled  the  territory.  It  is  uncertain  whether  any  of 
these  fugitives  went  to  the  polls  or  not.  Yet  it 
is  beyond  reasonable  doubt  that  the  number  of 
anti-slavery  ballots  cast  by  men,  against  whom 
charges  of  non-residence  could  be  sustained,  was 
very  small.  In  the  shifting,  prospecting,  to-and- 
fro  situation  considerable  laxity  of  suffrage  could 
not  be  escaped.  But  neither  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Company  nor  any  like  Northern  society  ever  com- 
mitted the  stupid  blunder  of  sending  pseudo-set- 
tlers half  across  the  continent  simply  to  vote. 
The  pro-slavery  representatives,  however,  did  not 
find  illegal  voting  a  congenial  theme.  They  ac- 
centuated the  point  that  the  governor  could  not 
lawfully  go  behind  the  returns  —  that  it  only  re- 
mained for  him  to  authenticate  them. 


52  KANSAS. 

Governor  Reeder  adopted  an  intermediate,  half- 
way policy,  which  failed  to  satisfy  anybody. 
Stickling  unhappily  for  technicalities,  he  cast  out 
the  mote  of  eight  candidates  against  whom  pro- 
tests had  been  filed,  and  ordered  new  elections  in 
their  districts,  but  ignored  the  beam  of  a  great 
systematic,  wholesale  fraud.  Of  the  thirty- one 
members  of  the  legislature  twenty -eight  were 
satisfactory  to  the  pro-slavery  managers.  But 
they  loudly  resented  the  governor's  interference, 
and  their  curses  were  almost  as  violent  as  might 
have  been  expected  had  it  been  less  ineffectual. 
The  little  company  of  free-state  men  who  went 
down  from  Lawrence  to  Shawnee  Mission  to  act 
as  Reeder's  body-guard  wished  they  had  allowed 
him  to  take  care  of  himself.  Dr.  Robinson  an- 
nounced that  for  his  part  he  repudiated  both 
governor  and  legislature  —  a  declaration  prophetic 
of  future  free-state  movements. 

Reeder  soon  afterwards  visited  Washington, 
where  his  reputation  needed  attention.  President 
Pierce  and  Jefferson  Davis,  secretary  of  war,  dis- 
liked the  situation  in  Kansas,  the  responsibility 
for  which  they  charged  principally  upon  the  gov- 
ernor. Missourians  posted  to  the  capital,  grew 
red  in  the  face  denouncing  him,  and  would  listen 
to  nothing  less  than  his  removal.  The  president 
intimated  that  his  resignation  would  be  accepta- 
ble, and  should  not  fail  of  suitable  reward.  Might 
not  the  mission  to  China  have  attractions  for  him  ? 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          53 

The  negotiations  failed.  Reeder  finally  declined 
to  present  himself  as  a  burnt-offering  to  the  ad- 
ministration and  returned  to  Kansas. 

July  2, 1855,  the  first  territorial  legislature  as- 
sembled at  Pawnee,  a  town  of  the  smallest  real- 
ized attainments,  situated  inland  on  the  Kansas 
River  about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  its 
mouth.  Preparations  to  accommodate  the  law- 
makers were  of  a  scanty  and  primitive  character. 
Rev.  Thomas  Johnson,  long  time  missionary  to 
the  Indians  at  Shawnee  Mission  Manual  Labor 
School  and  president  of  the  council,  states  that 
"  nearly  all  the  members  of  the  legislature  had 
to  camp  out  in  the  open  sun,  and  do  their  own 
cooking  without  a  shade  tree  to  protect  them; 
for  there  were  no  boarding-houses  in  the  neigh- 
borhood excepting  two  unfinished  shanties."  The 
gentry  came  prepared  for  roughing  it,  as  they 
brought  an  unprecedented  assortment  of  legislato- 
rial  fixtures  —  pots,  kettles,  sauce-pans,  provisions, 
and  tents. 

The  supplementary  elections  ordered  by  the 
governor  and  held  May  22d,  since  the  pro-slavery 
party  did  not  contest  them,  resulted  in  a  complete 
free-state  victory.  At  the  outset,  therefore,  the 
legislature  contained  twenty-eight  pro-slavery  and 
eleven  anti-slavery  members.  As  a  preliminary 
move  in  the  policy  of  repudiation,  strong  pressure 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  latter  to  prevent 
them  from  taking  their  seats.  These  efforts  were 


54  KANSAS. 

unsuccessful,  except  in  the  case  of  Martin  F. 
Conway,  who  was  finally  induced,  after  a  good 
deal  of  reluctance  and  hesitation,  mainly  through 
the  insistent  if  not  imperative  urgency  of  Dr. 
Robinson  and  Colonel  Kersey  Coates,  of  Kansas 
City,  to  send  in  his  resignation  to  the  governor  as 
member  of  the  council.  Mr.  Conway 's  highly- 
charged  phrases  and  defiant  sentiments  show  no 
trace  of  the  dubious,  irresolute  state  of  mind  that 
preceded  his  discussions  with  Robinson  and  Coates. 
"  Instead  of  recognizing  this  as  the  legislature 
of  Kansas,"  he  wrote  June  30th,  1855,  "  and  par- 
ticipating in  its  proceedings  as  such,  I  utterly  re- 
pudiate it,  and  repudiate  it  as  derogatory  to  the 
respectability  of  popular  government  and  insult- 
ing to  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  age.  .  .  . 
I  am  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  been  trained  to 
some  crude  notions  of  human  rights — some  such 
notions  as  those  for  which,  in  ages  past,  our  fool- 
ish ancestry  periled  their  lives  on  revolutionary 
fields.  .  .  .  Simply  as  a  citizen  and  a  man  I  shall, 
therefore,  yield  no  submission  to  this  alien  legis- 
lature. On  the  contrary,  I  am  ready  to  set  its  as- 
sumed authority  at  defiance,  and  shall  be  prompt 
to  spurn  and  trample  under  my  feet  its  insolent 
enactments  whenever  they  conflict  with  my  rights 
or  inclinations." 

To  the  homespun,  brown-fisted,  doing-its-own 
work  legislature  at  Pawnee  Governor  Reeder  ad- 
dressed a  sonorous  and  courtly  message.  He  ex- 


LESSONS   IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.  55 

Lorted  the  statesmen  there  convened  "  to  lay  aside 
all  selfish  and  equivocal  motives,  to  discard  all  un- 
worthy ends,  and  in  the  spirit  of  justice  and  char- 
ity to  each  other,  with  pure  hearts,  tempered  feel- 
ings, and  sober  judgments,"  to  enter  upon  their 
duties. 

The  legislature,  as  soon  as  an  organization  had 
been  effected,  gave  attention  to  the  ten  remaining 
anti-slavery  members.  Nine  were  summarily  un- 
seated and  their  places  filled  by  the  men  to  whom 
Governor  Reeder  denied  certificates.  A  solitary 
Free-Soiler — S.  D.  Houston  —  kept  his  place  un- 
til July  22d,  when  he  retired,  as  "to  retain  a  seat 
in  such  circumstances  would  be  ...  a  condescen- 
sion too  inglorious  for  the  spirit  of  an  American 
freeman,"  and  left  the  legislature  un vexed  by  po- 
litical heresy  or  schism. 

At  Pawnee  the  legislature  attempted  little  ex- 
cept the  expulsion  of  obnoxious  members.  After 
a  session  of  only  four  days  —  reports  that  cholera 
had  appeared  in  the  neighborhood  materially  con- 
tributing to  the  discontent  —  there  was  an  adjourn- 
ment to  Shawnee  Mission,  where  it  reassembled 
July  16th. 

It  was  this  adjournment  which  led  Governor 
Reeder  to  break  with  the  legislature.  Though 
the  members  of  it  had  been  elected  by  notorious 
invasions  from  Missouri,  that  scarlet  political  of- 
fense could  be  absolved ;  he  could  still  hope  that 
they  would  escape  all  unworthy  conduct,  "  save 


56  KANSAS. 

that  which  springs  from  the  inevitable  fallibility  of 
just  and  upright  men  ;  "  but  when,  in  the  phrase  of 
Toombs  of  Georgia,  "  they  removed  from  Reeder's 
town  to  somebody  else's  town,"  then  was  there 
committed  a  monstrous  and  unforgivable  sin.  To 
be  in  the  wrong  place  destroyed  the  constitu- 
tionality of  the  legislature.  The  circumstance 
that  Governor  Reeder  was  financially  interested 
in  the  success  of  Pawnee,  which  the  action  of  the 
legislature  ruined,  furnished  his  enemies  with  a 
convenient  text  for  abusive  discourse.  Yet  the 
more  probable  explanation  of  the  matter  is  that, 
repenting  of  his  blunder  in  failing  to  set  aside  the 
March  election,  he  took  advantage  of  the  adjourn- 
ment, which  was  at  the  expense  of  some  techni- 
calities, as  the  most  plausible  excuse  at  hand  for 
parting  company  with  the  legislature. 

Nothing  in  the  work  of  the  legislature  at  Shaw- 
nee  Mission  has  any  flavor  of  originality  —  unless 
the  slave-code  be  excepted.  A  natural  instinct 
led  it  to  transfer  to  Kansas  almost  in  bulk  the 
statutes  of  Missouri.  That  was  in  harmony  with 
Atchison's  frank  confession  —  "I  and  my  friends 
wish  to  make  Kansas  in  all  respects  like  Mis- 
souri." The  pro-slavery  managers  steeped  their 
slave-code  in  despotism.  Uncertain  of  the  future, 
confronted  by  vague,  indefinite  perils — perils 
which,  like  clouds  on  the  horizon  no  bigger  than 
a  man's  hand,  might  dissolve  or  blacken  the  heav- 
ens with  storm  —  they  went  nervously  to  work  and 


LESSONS  IN  POPULAR  SOVEREIGNTY.          57 

ran  into  absurd  extremes  of  precaution  and  strin- 
gency. In  their  code  two  years  of  imprisonment 
would  expiate  the  crime  of  kidnapping  and  selling 
into  bondage  a  free  colored  man,  but  death  was 
denounced  against  him  who  aided  in  the  escape  of 
a  slave.  To  question  the  right  of  slave-holding 
in  Kansas  might  draw  upon  the  querist's  head 
pains  of  felony.  A  citizen  could  be  disfranchised 
should  he  decline  taking  oath  to  support  the  Fu- 
gitive Slave  Law  —  thus  impertinently  enlarging 
the  area  of  penalty  in  a  federal  enactment.  The 
statesmen  at  Shawnee  Mission  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing "  the  enunciation  of  the  great  and  eternal 
principles  of  liberty  a  penitentiary  offense." 
Their  code  struck  at  the  liberty  of  the  press,  at 
freedom  of  speech,  and  the  sanctities  of  the  ballot- 
box.  And  not  the  least  singular  feature  of  this 
extraordinary  legislation  is  that  according  to  the 
official  publication  of  1855  the  territorial  gov- 
ernor had  no  power  to  pardon  offenses  against 
it.  In  the  act  of  Congress  organizing  the  ter- 
ritory of  Kansas  it  was  provided,  that  the  gov- 
ernor "  may  grant  pardons  and  respites  for  of- 
fenses against  the  laws  of  said  territory,  and  re- 
prieves for  offenses  against  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  until  the  decision  of  the  president  can  be 
known  thereon."  In  "  The  Statutes  of  the  Terri- 
tory of  Kansas,"  printed  at  Shawnee  Mission  in 
1855,  the  congressional  act  of  organization  is  re- 
published,  and  from  design  or  accident  the  clause 
is  made  to  read  —  the  governor  "  may  grant  par- 


58  KANSAS. 

dons  and  respites  for  offenses  against  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  until  the  decision  of  the  pres- 
ident can  be  known  thereon."  Free-state  men 
charged  that  the  mutilation  was  intentional,  and 
one  of  their  first  measures  on  getting  possession 
of  the  legislature  was  to  order  the  publication  of 
a  correct  copy  of  the  organic  act. 

The  legislature  and  its  allies  successfully  prose- 
cuted their  quarrel  with  Governor  Reeder,  who  re- 
ceived notice  of  his  removal  from  office  August 
15th.  In  the  fight  they  had  effective  aid  from 
the  territorial  supreme  court,  which  decided  the 
removal  of  the  capital  to  be  constitutional.  The 
grievances,  which  did  duty  in  public  as  the  cause 
of  Feeder's  removal,  were  charges  of  delay  in 
reaching  the  territory  and  in  getting  the  govern- 
ment under  way,  of  usurpation,  lack  of  sympathy 
with  the  people,  and  land-speculation  ;  but  the  real 
difficulty  was  that  he  did  not  submit  tamely  and 
obediently  to  pro-slavery  dictation. 

Governor  Reeder's  administration  ran  its 
troubled  course  in  less  than  a  year.  It  achieved 
no  very  signal  success.  That  were  perhaps  im- 
possible in  the  condition  of  the  territory  —  hope- 
less as  a  child's  freak  to  stamp  out  a  spring  bub- 
bling up  under  stones.  Unquestionably  it  was 
beyond  the  reach  of  a  man,  without  preeminent 
endowments  of  insight,  adaptation,  or  executive 
force  —  a  stranger  to  border  life,  suddenly  thrust 
into  the  wilderness  with  a  commission  to  smother 
outbreaks  of  the  irrepressible  conflict. 


CHAPTER  V. 

COUNTER-MOVES. 

MISSOURIANS  felicitated  themselves  upon  the 
state  of  affairs  in  Kansas,  upon  a  legislature  unan- 
imously, fanatically  pro-slavery,  upon  a  judiciary 
not  at  all  unfriendly,  upon  an  executive  depart- 
ment purged  of  an  obnoxious  incumbent.  Free- 
state  men  certainly  found  themselves  confronted 
by  a  very  grave  question  —  what  course  shall  be 
pursued  in  the  emergency?  Few  and  beggarly 
were  the  signs  of  promise  visible  for  them.  Their 
cause  seemed  to  have  foundered.  Something 
should  be  done,  but  what  ? 

The  line  of  policy  adopted  —  repudiation  of 
the  territorial  legislature  as  an  illegal,  usurping, 
"  bogus  "  concern,  and  organization  forthwith  of  a 
state  government  and  application  to  Congress  for 
admission  to  the  Union — emanated  from  Robinson. 
This  scheme,  an  outgrowth  and  suggestion  in  part 
of  the  California  struggle,  began  to  shape  itself  in 
his  thoughts  on  the  very  day  that  Reeder  handed 
over  the  territorial  legislature  to  the  Philistines. 
The  rise  of  a  state  government,  independent  of 
the  territorial  government,  severing  all  friendly 


60  KANSAS. 

relations  with  it  and  aiming  to  effect  its  overthrow 
—  like  the  emergence  in  the  Roman  world  of  a 
standing  army  of  twenty-five  legions  from  the 
ruins  of  the  republic  —  was  an  event  of  capital 
importance  in  Kansas  history. 

A  preliminary  step  in  the  counter-move  against 
Missouri  was  to  secure  a  supply  of  Sharpe's 
rifles.  The  reputed  "  military  colonies  "  were 
practically  without  weapons.  Robinson  lost  no 
time  in  dispatching  G.  W.  Deitzler  to  New  Eng- 
land for  arms,  ostensibly  to  protect  the  polls  at 
the  special  elections  May  22d,  but  really  as  the 
first  stroke  in  the  projected  scheme  of  anti-Mis- 
souri operations.  Sharpe's  rifles,  he  saw,  were  an 
absolutely  essential  preliminary.  They  would  en- 
sure the  settlers  respect  and  consideration  which 
they  might  not  otherwise  receive.  One  hundred 
of  these  weapons  soon  reached  Lawrence  in  pack- 
ages marked  "  books  "  —  a  species  of  literature  that 
created  wide  interest  on  the  border.  "  Sharpe's 
rifles,"  said  the  "  Democratic  Review,"  are  "  the 
religious  tracts  of  the  new  Free-Soil  system." 

Then  it  would  be  necessary  to  establish  in  place 
of  the  disowned  territorial  government  some  polit- 
ical organization  to  serve  as  a  rallying  point  for 
the  people  until  the  legislature  could  be  captured 
or  admission  to  the  Union  secured.  To  provide 
for  this  emergency  a  state  government  was  de- 
cided upon,  which  would  be  put  into  actual  ser- 
vice whenever  Congress  should  authenticate  it.  In 


COUNTER-MOVES.  61 

the  interval  the  anti-slavery  portion  of  the  com- 
munity proposed  to  do  without  laws  as  best  it 
might.  November  1st,  1855,  Dr.  Robinson  wrote 
A.  A.  Lawrence,  reviewing  somewhat  in  detail  the 
progress  of  events  up  to  that  time.  "[We  must 
be]  as  independent  and  self-reliant  and  confident," 
he  said,  "as  the  Missourians  are,  and  never  in  any 
instance  be  cowed  into  silence  or  subserviency  to 
their  dictation.  This  course  on  the  part  of  prom- 
inent free-state  men  is  absolutely  necessary  to  in- 
spire the  masses  with  confidence  and  keep  them 
from  going  over  to  the  enemy.  ...  I  have  been 
censured  for  the  defiant  tone  of  my  Fourth  of  July 
speech,  but  I  was  fully  convinced  that  such  a 
course  was  demanded.  The  legislature  was  about 
sitting  and  free-state  men  were  about  despairing. 
.  .  .  [A  few  of  us]  dared  to  take  a  position  in 
defiance  of  the  legislature  and  meet  the  conse- 
quences. We  were  convinced  that  our  success 
depended  upon  this  measure,  and  the  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Fourth  was  to  set  the  ball  in  motion 
in  connection  with  Conway's  letter  to  Governor 
Reeder  resigning  his  seat  and  repudiating  the 
legislature.  For  a  while  we  had  to  contend  with 
opposition  from  the  faint-hearted,  but  by  perse- 
vering in  our  course,  by  introducing  resolutions 
into  conventions  and  canvassing  the  territory,  re- 
pudiation became  universal  with  free-state  men. 
.  .  .  We  conceived  it  important  to  disown  the  leg- 
islature, if  at  all,  before  we  knew  the  character  of 


62  KANSAS. 

its  laws,  believing  they  would  be  such  as  to  crush 
us  out  if  recognized  as  valid,  and  believing  we 
should  stand  on  stronger  ground  if  we  came  out 
in  advance.  .  .  .  The  1st  of  July  forms  an  im- 
portant epoch  in  our  history.  It  was  about  that 
time  that  open  defiance  was  shown  our  enemies. 
.  .  .  Pro-slavery  bullies  were  daily  in  the  streets 
and  insulted  all  free-state  men  whom  they  sup- 
posed would  make  no  resistance.  This  drove  our 
people  into  a  secret  organization  of  self-defense, 
and  -it  was  not  long  before  they  were  glad  to  cry 
for  quarters.  A  free-state  Missourian,  a  regular 
California  bully,  came  among  us  and  took  them  in 
their  own  way  and  frightened  every  pro-slavery 
man  from  the  field.  His  name  is  David  Evans, 
and  if  I  had  a  Sharpe's  rifle  at  my  disposal  I 
should  make  him  a  present  of  it.  ...  To  divide 
into  parties  before  our  admission  into  the  Union 
would  be  ruinous  and  give  our  enemies  the  advan- 
tage." 

Between  the  8th  of  June  and  the  15th  of  Aug- 
ust, 1855,  not  including  the  large  Fourth  of  July 
meeting  already  mentioned,  when  Dr.  Robinson 
delivered  an  address  on  local  and  national  issues, 
seven  so-called  political  conventions  were  held  in 
Lawrence.  These  conventions  —  one  or  two  of 
the  first  being  small,  impromptu  affairs  —  were 
all  except  one  in  opposition  to  the  federal  ad- 
ministration and  its  territorial  policy.  On  the 
evening  of  June  27th  a  few  Democrats  assembled 


CO  UNTER-MO  VES.  6  3 

and  resolved  that  "  the  best  interests  of  Kansas  re- 
quire an  early  organization  of  the  Democratic 
party."  The  master  spirit  in  this  convention  was 
James  H.  Lane,  recently  from  Indiana,  where  he 
had  obtained  some  notoriety.  He  participated  in 
the  Mexican  war,  was  elected  lieutenant-governor 
of  Indiana  in  1848,  and  appeared  in  Congress  as 
representative  from  that  state  in  1852.  For  some 
cause  Lane's  political  fortunes  did  not  thrive  in 
Indiana,  and  in  the  spring  of  1855  he  betook  him- 
self to  the  fresh  fields  of  Kansas,  pro-slavery  in 
sentiment,  boasting  that  he  would  as  readily  buy 
a  negro  as  a  mule,  conceding  the  legality  of  the 
territorial  legislature,  and  accepting  it  as  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  that  Kansas  would  become  a  slave 
state  if  its  soil  should  prove  to  be  adapted  to  ser- 
vile labor.  But  the  Democratic  venture  came  to 
nothing.  It  touched  no  responsive  chord  among 
the  people.  Lane's  interest  in  feeble  minority 
parties  was  very  slight,  and  he  soon  found  his  way 
to  the  opposition  benches. 

The  various  minor  assemblies  at  Lawrence  led 
up  to  a  more  pretentious  convention  which  be- 
gan on  the  14th  of  August,  and  continued  until 
the  following  day.  The  special  significance  of 
this  convention  lies  in  the  fact,  that  it  initiated 
measures  looking  toward  the  formal  organization 
of  a  political  party.  It  declined  to  attempt  that 
task  itself  as  being  too  local  and  unrepresentative 
in  its  make-up,  and  confided  it  to  a  more  compre- 


64  KANSAS. 

hensive  assembly  that  should  meet  October  5th  at 
Big  Springs,  for  the  purpose  of  "constructing  a 
national  platform  upon  which  all  friends  of  mak- 
ing Kansas  a  free  state  may  act  in  concert." 

Big  Springs  in  the  autumn  of  1855  was  a  place 
of  four  or  five  shake-cabins  and  log-huts.  To  that 
town  repaired  one  hundred  delegates  and  thrice  as 
many  spectators,  who  took  quarters  out  of  doors 
on  the  prairie.  At  this  convention  all  the  anti- 
Missouri  elements — heretofore  unassociated  and 
without  definite  concert  of  action  —  got  into  a 
kind  of  organic  connection  and  denominated  them- 
selves  the  Free-State  party. 

The  platform  put  forth  by  the  new  political 
clanship  emphatically  confirmed  the  declaration  of 
"  The  Liberator,"  that  no  abolitionists  had  taken 
passage  for  Kansas.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Dr.  Rob- 
inson was  at  that  time  almost  the  only  free-state 
man  of  prominence  in  the  territory  who  avowed 
himself  an  abolitionist,  and  he  did  not  happen  to 
be  a  member  of  the  convention.  And  it  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact,  which  forcibly  illustrates  the  absence 
of  any  general  and  radical  sentiment  of  abolition- 
ism in  Kansas,  that  so  late  as  the  year  1858  Mis- 
sourians  hired  out  slaves  at  Lawrence,  received 
their  wages,  and  nobody  made  objection. 

Though  recently  escaped  from  the  stranded 
Democratic  movement,  Lane  intrigued  himself 
into  the  chairmanship  of  a  committee  of  thirteen  to 
which  the  construction  of  a  platform  was  intrusted. 


COUNTER-MOVES.  65 

The  question  of  slavery  brought  on  an  all-night 
discussion,  in  which  he  persuaded  the  committee 
to  adopt  violent  anti-negro  principles.  Only  one 
among  the  thirteen  stood  out  to  the  end,  —  an  in- 
expugnable home  missionary,  James  H.  Byrd. 
The  platform  branded  the  charges  of  abolitionism, 
so  industriously  circulated  against  free-state  men, 
as  "  stale  and  ridiculous."  With  that  mischievous 
and  deplorable  fanaticism  it  disavowed  all  sym- 
pathy. "  The  best  interests  of  Kansas  require  a 
population  of  white  men."  When  the  time  came 
for  the  establishment  of  a  state  government,  ne- 
groes of  every  stripe,  bond  and  free,  should  be 
excluded.  The  convention  adopted  the  platform 
without  dissent.  At  Big  Springs  assuredly  the 
anti-slaveryism  was  of  a  diluted  milk-and-water 
type. 

The  convention  appointed  a  committee  to  draft 
resolutions  in  regard  to  the  territorial  legislature. 
That  assembly  the  committee  treated  with  pow- 
erful verbal  caustics.  Such  a  course  might  have 
been  expected  in  any  case,  but  the  fact  that  Gov- 
ernor Reeder  wrote  the  resolutions  made  assur- 
ance doubly  sure.  After  his  removal  from  office 
Reeder  threw  himself  heartily  and  unreservedly 
into  the  free-state  cause.  Widely  and  favorably 
known  in  Eastern  States,  where  his  defense  of 
repudiation  had  great  influence  in  the  persuasion 
of  a  conservative  and  law-abiding  public  that 
this  revolutionary  measure  must  arise  out  of  in- 

5 


66  KANSAS. 

exorable  necessities,  he  was  an  accession  of  pri- 
mary importance.  National  as  well  as  local  con- 
siderations entered  into  the  problem  pressing  upon 
the  new  free-state  party.  Unless  the  country  at 
large  could  be  wakened ;  unless  the  few  hundred 
men  at  the  front  could  be  backed  by  moral  and 
material  support  from  non-slaveholding  states,  it 
would  be  folly  to  risk  a  contest  with  Missouri. 
Governor  Reeder's  chief  service  lay  outside  of 
Kansas.  No  other  man  in  the  free-state  ranks 
had  anything  like  a  national  reputation ;  no  other 
man  could  then  command  a  hearing  so  wide  or  so 
effective. 

Reeder's  aggrieved  personal  experiences  tinct- 
ured his  resolutions  with  a  tang  of  wormwood. 
Five  months  after  fitting  out  the  territorial  leg- 
islature with  certificates,  and  couching  his  com- 
munications to  it  in  the  most  courtly  phrases  of 
official  etiquette,  he  describes  that  body  as  "  the 
monstrous  consummation  of  an  act  of  violence, 
usurpation,  and  fraud,"  —  "a  contemptible  and 
hypocritical  mockery  of  republicanism,"  tramp- 
ling down  as  with  the  hoofs  of  a  buffalo  the  Kan- 
sas-Nebraska bill,  libeling  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, and  staining  the  country  with  indeli- 
ble disgrace.  Whenever  "  peaceful  remedies  shall 
fail,  and  forcible  resistance  shall  furnish  any  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  success,"  —  then  let  the  now 
shrinking  and  reluctant  hostility  be  pushed  to  "  a 
bloody  issue."  The  resolutions  scourging  the  leg- 


COUNTER-MOVES.  67 

islature  evoked  a  response  quite  as  rapturous  as 
Lane's  negropbobia. 

The  first  and  only  discord  that  jangled  the  har- 
monies at  Big  Springs  occurred  when  a  subject, 
incidental  and  subordinate  to  the  special  purposes 
of  the  convention,  was  reached  —  the  question  of 
establishing  a  state  government.  It  was  stirring 
the  community  —  an  uppermost  theme  in  the  pub- 
lic thought  —  and  could  not  be  ignored.  The 
special  committee,  that  took  it  under  advisement, 
shrank  from  pledging  the  party  to  the  support  of 
so  novel  and  venturesome  an  experiment.  They 
pronounced  it  "  untimely  and  inexpedient."  But 
the  convention  thought  differently,  and  adopted 
approving  resolutions. 

As  epilogue  to  the  labors  of  the  convention,  and 
as  prologue  to  the  opening  career  of  the  new  party, 
there  was  nomination  of  a  delegate  for  Congress. 
Only  one  man  received  a  moment's  consideration 
for  this  honor  —  Reeder.  The  presentation  of  his 
name  called  out  tremendous  applause.  His  speech 
in  accepting  the  candidacy  produced  a  powerful 
impression.  "  A  steady,  unflinching  pertinacity  of 
purpose,  never-tiring  industry,  dogged  persever- 
ance, and  all  the  abilities  with  which  God  has  en- 
dowed "  him  —  such  was  the  service  he  pledged  to 
Kansas.  Reeder's  speech  modulated  in  its  closing 
paragraphs  into  the  belligerent  tone  of  the  resolu- 
tions on  the  legislature  —  "  when  other  resources 
fail,  there  still  remain  to  us  the  steady  eye  and  the 


68  KANSAS. 

strong  arm,  and  we  must  conquer  or  mingle  the 
bodies  of  the  oppressors  with  those  of  the  op- 
pressed upon  the  soil  which  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  no  longer  protects  !  " 

The  convention  secured  unity  and  concert 
among  the  detached  anti-Missouri  elements,  which 
merged  into  a  political  party  as  vapor-wreaths 
combine  into  the  larger  cloud.  But  the  conven- 
tion unfortunately  exposed  itself  to  damaging  crit- 
icism. Lane's  "  black-law  "  platform  and  Reeder's 
heated  declamation  gave  the  enemy  aid  and  com- 
fort. The  unlucky  "  bloody  -  issue  "  phrase  was 
worn  threadbare  in  Congress  and  out  of  it  by  the 
incessant  service  to  which  administration  speak- 
ers put  it.  Douglas  thundered  against  "  the  dar- 
ing and  defiant  revolutionists  in  Kansas,"  who 
were  plotting  "  to  overthrow  by  force  the  whole 
system  of  laws  under  which  they  live."  He  pro- 
fessed great  anxiety  lest,  through  the  inefficiency 
of  federal  processes,  the  insurgents  should  escape 
the  just  penalty  of  their  deeds.  This  government, 
he  remarked,  has  been  "  equal  to  any  emergency 
.  .  .  except  the  power  to  hang  a  traitor  !  " 

If  the  formation  of  a  political  party  was  a 
matter  of  too  considerable  magnitude  for  the 
Lawrence  convention  of  August  14th  and  15th  to 
enter  upon,  reasons  still  more  cogent  and  conclu- 
sive existed  why  it  should  shrink  from  initiating 
the  movement  for  a  state  government.  The  con- 
vention met  primarily  and  avowedly  in  the  interest 


COUNTER-MOVES.  69 

of  a  new  political  organization,  and  therefore  could 
not  escape  charges  of  partisanship,  whereas  it  was 
thought  particularly  desirable  that  the  state  gov- 
ernment should  have  an  origin  at  least  techni- 
cally unpartisan.  During  the  progress  of  the 
first  convention  a  petition  was  circulated  and 
numerously  signed,  calling  a  second  convention  of 
citizens,  without  regard  to  political  affiliations, 
to  consider  the  state  -  government  project.  No 
sooner  had  the  former  body  adjourned  on  the  15th 
than  the  latter,  composed  of  substantially  the 
same  membership,  assembled.  The  recent  poli- 
ticians now  became  simply  citizens,  and  made 
brief  work  of  the  business  before  them.  The  re- 
sources of  talk  had  been  pretty  much  exhausted 
by  the  first  convention,  where  the  discussion  took 
wide  range  and  the  expenditure  of  words  was  less 
than  usual.  Opposition  to  the  experiment  of  a 
state  organization  showed  little  or  no  strength.  A 
delegate  territorial  convention,  to  meet  at  Topeka 
September  19th,  was  agreed  upon. 

The  Topeka  convention  subjected  the  straw 
which  had  been  violently  threshed  at  Lawrence 
and  Big  Springs  to  a  fresh  flailing,  with  no  re- 
sults other  than  attended  earlier  experiments.  A 
constitutional  convention  seemed  feasible,  dele- 
gates to  which  were  elected  October  9th.  They 
received  in  the  aggregate  twenty-seven  hundred 
and  ten  votes.  On  the  same  day  Reeder  was 
elected  free-state  delegate  to  Congress  and  re- 


70  KANSAS. 

ceived  all  the  ballots  cast  —  twenty-eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine.  The  territorial  legislature 
had  also  ordered  an  election  for  congressional  del- 
egate and  selected  October  1st  as  the  date.  J.  W. 
Whitfield  received  twenty -seven  hundred  and 
twenty  -  one  votes  —  only  seventeen  scattering 
ballots  disturbed  the  unanimity  of  this  election  — 
and  secured  the  governor's  certificate.  Reeder, 
backed  by  protests  from  thirty-two  voting  pre- 
cincts, contested  Whitfield's  seat,  but  did  not  carry 
his  point. 

The  constitutional  convention  continued  in  ses- 
sion at  Topeka  from  October  23d  to  November 
llth.  Lane  was  elected  president,  and  delivered, 
on  taking  the  chair,  a  short  address  that  sketched 
in  outline  the  nobler  Kansas  of  the  future.  Wide 
diversities  of  antecedents  appeared  among  the 
members  of  the  convention  who  represented  half 
the  states  of  the  Union.  Though  convened  for  a 
purpose  that  did  not  lack  much  of  being  revolution- 
ary, it  was  a  decidedly  conservative  assembly. 
Nineteen  of  the  thirty-four  members  reported 
themselves  democrats,  six  registered  as  whigs, 
while  independents,  free-soilers,  republicans,  free- 
state  men,  and  nothingarians  found  representa- 
tives among  the  remaining  nine.  The  incidental 
debates,  which  arose  during  the  session  on  the 
merits  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  showed  that 
a  majority  were  friendly  to  it  in  spite  of  all  that 
had  happened  in  the  territory. 


COUNTER-MOVES.  71 

The  convention  put  together  a  fairly  good  patch- 
work constitution,  which  adopted  the  boundaries 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  prohibited  slavery 
after  the  4th  of  July,  1857,  conferred  the  right 
of  suffrage  on  "white  male  citizens,"  and  on 
"  every  civilized  male  Indian  who  has  adopted  the 
habits  of  the  white  man,"  and  located  the  capital 
temporarily  at  Topeka.  Lane  still  advocated  the 
exclusion  of  negroes,  pleading  for  a  free  white 
state,  and  carried  the  convention  with  him.  Rob- 
inson fought  the  "  black  law  "  iniquity  stoutly, 
but  could  make  no  head  against  it.  A  portion  of 
the  convention  wished  to  incorporate  anti-negro 
discriminations  in  the  constitution,  but  the  whole 
matter  was  ultimately  referred  to  the  people,  who 
voted  by  a  majority  of  nearly  three  to  one  that 
colored  men  should  be  excluded  from  the  state. 
December  15th  the  constitution  was  ratified  at 
the  polls  by  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-one 
affirmative  to  forty-six  negative  votes.  The  elec- 
tion of  officers  for  this  tentative,  empirical  com- 
monwealth took  place  January  5th,  1856,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  choice  of  Charles  Robinson  as  gov- 
ernor. One  interesting  and  noteworthy  result  fol- 
lowed —  whatever  the  philosophy  of  it  may  be  — 
the  sudden  and  final  extinction  of  black-law  sen- 
timent in  Kansas.  Silence  fell  upon  its  numerous 
and  active  champions  with  the  election  of  an 
abolitionist  to  the  governorship.  That  event  in 
its  effect  was  like  some  great  change  of  climate 


72  KANSAS. 

which  abruptly  revolutionizes  the  life,  customs, 
and  habits  of  a  people. 

The  elections  of  December  15th  and  of  January 
5th  excited  no  general  disturbance.  Pro-slavery 
men  sneered  at  them  as  silly,  scarecrow  perform- 
ances. At  two  points  only  did  anything  like 
the  old  time  violence  break  out  —  Leavenworth 
and  Easton.  While  the  election  was  in  progress 
at  Leavenworth,  on  the  15th  of  December,  a 
gang  of  pro-slavery  roughs  appeared  at  the  polls 
and  demanded  the  ballot-box  on  the  ground  that 
the  election  was  illegal.  Considering  the  reply 
unsatisfactory,  the  leader,  followed  by  the  whole 
brawling  rout,  crashed  through  the  window  where 
votes  were  received,  and  caused  a  great  panic 
among  the  judges  of  election,  who  did  not  relish 
that  style  of  suffrage.  "  I  was  not  right  well  af- 
terwards," one  of  them  complained.  The  raiders 
captured  the  ballot-box  and  bore  it  away  in 
triumph,  reducing  consequently  the  majority  in 
favor  of  the  Topeka  constitution  by  several  hun- 
dred votes. 

Only  a  single  affray  of  any  importance  dis- 
quieted the  January  election.  In  consequence  of 
rumors  that  the  Kickapoo  rangers  —  a  pro-slav- 
ery military  company  of  bad  reputation  —  were 
planning  an  attack,  the  election  at  Easton  did 
not  take  place  until  the  17th.  A  few  armed 
free-state  men  from  Leavenworth,  led  by  Captain 
R.  P.  Brown,  were  in  attendance  to  lend  their 


CO  UNTER-MO  VES.  73 

friends  any  assistance  that  might  be  necessary. 
At  night  there  was  a  brief  skirmish  in  which  one 
pro-slavery  man  was  killed.  Nobody  on  the  free- 
state  side  received  serious  injury.  "  I  found  a 
shot  in  my  scalp  a  day  or  two  afterwards,"  said 
an  Eastou  man,  "  but  I  did  not  know  it  at  the 
time." 

In  the  morning  Brown  and  his  men  started  for 
Leavenworth,  but  were  intercepted  by  the  Kicka- 
poos,  who  had  been  hastily  summoned  to  Easton 
and  were  in  a  rage  to  avenge  the  killing  of  the 
preceding  night.  Their  fury  burned  especially 
against  Brown,  whose  resolution  and  activity 
made  him  very  unpopular  among  the  Kickapoos. 
"  We  've  got  him  sure,"  one  of  them  chuckled. 
They  carried  him  back  to  Easton  and  confined 
him  in  a  store,  while  an  attempt  was  being  made 
to  organize  a  court  for  his  trial.  But  some  of 
the  savages  could  not  brook  the  delays  of  the 
rudest,  most  expeditious  judiciary.  They  dis- 
persed the  court  and  dealt  Brown  a  fatal  hatchet- 
stroke  on  the  head.  As  he  was  not  killed  out- 
right, they  bestirred  themselves  to  take  him  home 
—  a  distance  of  several  miles.  It  was  late  in  the 
afternoon  of  one  of  the  bitterest  winter  days  ever 
known  in  Kansas  before  they  set  forth.  "  I  am 
very  cold,"  groaned  the  dying  man,  who,  iced  with 
gore,  was  flung  upon  the  floor  of  a  farm  wagon 
and  jolted  homeward  for  hours  over  the  roughly 
frozen  roads.  "  Here  's  Brown,"  the  devils  blurted 
out  as  they  drove  up  to  the  door  of  his  cabin. 


74  KANSAS. 

The  state  legislature  met  at  Topeka  March  4th, 
and  Governor  Robinson  delivered  his  message  — 
a  strong,  sensible,  cautious  paper.  With  a  mix- 
ture of  shrewdness,  poetry,  and  bathos,  the  legisla- 
ture after  a  brief  session  adjourned  to  the  4th 
of  July.  It  attempted  nothing  beyond  the  pas- 
sage of  a  few  laws,  the  appointment  of  a  codify- 
ing committee  to  prepare  business  for  the  next 
session,  the  election  of  Reeder  and  Lane  as  sena- 
tors, and  the  preparation  of  a  memorial  praying 
for  admission  to  the  Union  under  the  Topeka  con- 
stitution. Neither  officers  nor  laws  were  regarded 
as  having  anything  more  than  a  conditional,  ten- 
tative existence,  until  favorable  and  validating 
action  could  be  secured  on  the  part  of  Congress. 
The  governor  was  careful  to  say  that  he  "  recom- 
mended no  course  to  be  taken  in  opposition  to  the 
general  government  or  to  the  territorial  govern- 
ment while  it  shall  remain  with  the  sanction  of 
Congress.  Collision  with  either  is  to  be  avoided." 

Thus  far  an  unbroken  prosperity  had  attended 
the  counter-move  against  Missouri,  but  in  Wash- 
ington it  experienced  rough  weather.  April  7th, 
General  Cass  presented  in  the  Senate  the  memo- 
rial of  the  Topeka  legislature,  asking  that  the  State 
of  Kansas  might  be  admitted  to  the  Union.  The 
appearance  of  the  memorial  caused  a  commotion. 
"  I  find,"  said  Douglas,  "  that  the  signatures  are 
all  in  one  handwriting.  ...  I  perceive  on  inspec- 
tion various  interlineations  and  erasures.  All 


CO  UNTER-MO  VES.  75 

things  are  calculated  to  throw  doubt  on  the  genu- 
ineness of  the  document."  Senator  Pugh  thought 
the  memorial  appeared  "  as  if  some  person  who 
had  it  in  charge  had  watched  the  progress  of  dis- 
cussion in  this  body,  and  had  stricken  out  prop- 
ositions to  accommodate  it  to  the  present  stage 
of  discussion."  "  Are  we  not  aware,"  sneered 
Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  "  that  the  men  whose 
signatures  purport  to  be  attached  to  this  paper 
are  fugitives  from  justice  ?  "  The  memorial  was 
ignominiously  bundled  out  of  the  Senate.  "  I  ask 
leave  to  withdraw  it,"  said  Cass,  "with  a  view  to 
return  it  to  the  gentleman  who  handed  it  to  me." 

The  gentleman  in  question  was  Lane,  who,  in  no 
wise  abashed,  immediately  began  to  plan  a  second 
effort  for  recognition.  He  resorted  to  the  sanc- 
tities of  an  affidavit  which  rehearsed  the  alleged 
history  of  the  memorial.  It  was  originally  the 
work  of  a  special  committee,  was  accepted  by  the 
legislature,  and  then  sent  back  for  revision  as  the 
phraseology  needed  mending.  The  committee 
delegated  the  editorial  function  to  Lane,  who 
attended  to  it  after  his  arrival  in  Washington. 
The  "  sets  of  signatures,"  executed  by  members  of 
the  legislature,  having  been  "  unfortunately  mis- 
laid," Lane's  private  secretary  came  to  the  rescue 
and  signed  the  names  of  these  gentlemen  to  the 
memorial  —  such  was  the  substance  of  the  affi- 
davit. 

Harlan,  of  Iowa,  presented  the  memorial  with 


70  KANSAS. 

the  explanatory  affidavit  to  the  Senate,  but  the 
second  reception  of  it  was  no  more  friendly  than 
the  first.  The  shabby,  deleted,  interpolary  con- 
dition of  the  document,  and  the  absence  of  orig- 
inal signatures,  neutralized  the  force  of  all  ex- 
planation however  adroit  and  plausible. 

Besides,  the  memorial  was  silent  in  reference 
to  the  "black  law"  restrictions,  which,  though 
not  literally  a  part  of  the  constitution,  would 
practically  have  the  same  effect  as  if  they  had 
been  incorporated  in  it  —  an  omission  readily 
lending  color  to  charges  of  concealment  and  dis- 
ingenuousness.  The  infelicities  of  the  memorial 
afforded  Senator  Douglas  opportunities  for  as- 
sailing Lane,  which  he  improved  to  the  utmost. 
You  presented  to  us,  he  said  in  substance,  an  orig- 
inal document  that  had  no  signatures,  no  mode  of 
authentication,  and  no  date.  You  attempted  to 
palm  upon  the  Senate  an  imperfect  copy  of  the 
constitution  of  the  so-called  State  of  Kansas.  You 
suppressed  a  material  provision  of  that  supreme 
law.  You  withheld  what  you  dare  not  defend  — 
the  permanent  legislative  instructions  excluding 
colored  men  from  the  state.  In  every  line  of  your 
expurgated  and  recast  memorial  evidences  of  fraud 
appear ! 

Lane  did  not  relish  the  affair,  and  demanded 
from  Douglas  an  explanation  such  as  "  will  remove 
all  imputation  upon  the  integrity  of  my  acts  or 
motives  in  connection  with  the  memorial,"  and 


COUNTER-MOVES.  77 

intimated  that  a  challenge  would  follow  in  case 
his  explanation  should  be  inadequate.  Douglas 
replied  that  no  exculpatory  facts  were  within  his 
knowledge,  and  there  the  episode  ended. 

At  the  close  of  a  long  discussion  the  House  of 
Representatives  voted  by  a  majority  of  two  in 
favor  of  the  admission  of  Kansas  to  the  Union 
with  the  Topeka  constitution,  but  the  hostility  of 
the  Senate  could  not  be  surmounted. 

The  Topeka  movement  could  show  but  little 
backing  of  precedents.  State  governments  had 
repeatedly  come  into  existence  without  enabling 
acts,  but  never  before  in  defiance  of  the  territo- 
rial authorities.  That  was  the  situation  in  Kan- 
sas. Bayard,  of  Delaware,  pronounced  the  con- 
duct of  the  free-state  party  "  incipient  treason." 
But  if  their  action  touched,  it  did  not  cross,  the 
line  of  treason.  Had  there  been  an  appeal  to 
force  treason  would  have  been  committed.  If 
the  people  of  Kansas  chose  to  supplement  me- 
morials to  Congress  with  a  state  constitution  un- 
der which  officers  had  been  provisionally  elected 
and  laws  provisionally  passed  —  all  a  dead  organ- 
ism until  federal  inspiration  should  breathe  into 
it  the  breath  of  life  —  they  were  only  exercising 
the  primal  rights  of  American  citizens. 

The  Topeka  government  taking  the  field  against 
the  Missouri  legislature  —  a  veritable,  though  hy- 
pothetical Kansas  institution  warring  upon  an  in- 
terloper —  was  erected,  as  has  been  already  re- 


78  KANSAS. 

marked,  with  a  view  to  national,  as  well  as  domes- 
tic uses.  It  was  an  emphatic  method  of  publishing 
the  territorial  assembly  as  hopelessly,  intolerably 
bad,  and  in  this  way  it  made  an  effective  appeal  to 
Northern  sympathy.  Locally  it  afforded  a  rallying 
point  for  the  anti-slavery  party,  and  presented  at 
least  a  show  of  aggressive  activity  which  bespoke 
nerve  and  vigor  in  the  leadership.  The  legisla- 
ture never  passed  any  laws  of  importance,  and 
never  put  in  force  those  which  it  did  pass.  It 
was  a  disguised  mass-meeting  —  a  mass-meeting 
shrewdly  and  effectively  masquerading  as  a  state 
government.  Whatever  savage  declarations  and 
threats  it  may  have  uttered,  it  took  care  to  do 
nothing  illegal.  The  crafty  scheme  drew  the  pro- 
slavery  fire  and  held  the  free-state  men  together 
until  they  could  get  possession  of  the  legitimate 
legislature. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WAB   ON  THE  WAKARUSA. 

WILSON  SHANNON,  of  Ohio,  the  second  gov- 
ernor of  Kansas,  was  a  lawyer  of  good  repute, 
with  an  honorable  record  as  governor  of  his  native 
state,  minister  to  Mexico,  and  representative  in 
Congress,  genial,  companionable,  his  sympathies 
and  instincts  naturally  gravitating  toward  what- 
ever is  just  and  honorable,  a  tenacious,  unwaver- 
ing Democrat  of  the  old  school,  but  no  iron,  deci- 
sive storm-queller  able  to  rule  the  anarchy  let 
loose  in  the  territory. 

The  period  immediately  preceding  and  the  pe- 
riod immediately  following  Shannon's  advent  were 
not  prolific  in  violence.  The  political  fight  —  the 
fence  of  hostile  constitutional  expedients,  a  hy- 
pothetical state  government  matched  against  a 
legitimatized  territorial  legislature  —  got  well  un- 
der way. 

Now  and  then  the  underlying  ferment  broke 
out  into  spasmodic  acts  of  personal  violence.  The 
fortunes  of  Rev.  Pardee  Butler  are  among  the 
most  notable  experiences  of  discomfort  during 
this  interval.  The  divine  so  far  forgot  all  max- 


80  KANSAS. 

ims  of  policy  as  to  avow  free-soil  opinions  in  the 
pro-slavery  town  of  Atchison.  "  I  intend,"  said 
he,  "  to  utter  my  sentiments  where  I  please."  A 
local  bully  had  recently  fallen  upon  an  estrayed 
abolitionist  who  ventured  into  the  region,  and 
had  soundly  thrashed  him.  Public  sentiment  ap- 
plauded the  act,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  merit  special 
recognition,  a  paper  was  drawn  up  gratefully  re- 
counting the  bully's  devotion  to  public  interests, 
the  signing  of  which  became  a  test  of  political  or- 
thodoxy. A  bright  thought  struck  the  junior  ed- 
itor of  the  "Squatter  Sovereign,"  a  rabid,  pro- 
slavery  newspaper  published  in  town.  It  occurred 
to  him  that  this  paper  might  be  useful  in  taming 
the  doughty  free-soiler,  and  he  presented  it  to  him 
for  his  signature,  which,  of  course,  was  not  se- 
cured. A  mob  of  considerable  size,  understand- 
ing the  game,  and  gathered  in  anticipation  of  the 
parson's  probable  decision,  then  took  him  in  hand 
and  hurried  him  toward  the  Missouri  River,  ap- 
parently with  the  purpose  of  tossing  him  into  it. 
After  reaching  the  bank  his  face  was  blackened. 
Then  followed  a  long  discussion  —  the  divine  be- 
ing a  "  target  at  which  were  hurled  imprecations, 
curses,  arguments,  entreaties,  accusations,  and  in- 
terrogatories." It  was  suggested  that  the  ends  of 
justice  would  be  sufficiently  served  if  he  should 
immediately  and  permanently  quit  the  country. 
These  Atchison  fanatics  offered  to  point  out  the 
very  tree  on  which  he  would  be  gibbeted  in  case 


WAR  ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  81 

of  return,  if  he  felt  their  discourse  needed  the 
illumination  of  an  object-lesson.  He  stiffly  re- 
plied that  he  should  certainly  return,  provided 
his  life  were  not  taken  and  Providence  permitted. 
The  conservators  of  public  peace  relented  so  far 
as  to  consent  to  his  remaining  in  the  vicinity 
with  the  understanding  that  he  should  keep  his 
mouth  shut.  "I  shall  speak  as  I  choose,"  said 
the  incorrigible  parson  ;  "  I  have  done  no  wrong. 
I  have  as  good  a  right  to  come  here  as  you.  I 
am  but  one  man,  you  are  many.  Dispose  of  me 
as  you  think  best.  I  ask  no  favors  of  you." 

The  discussion  accomplished  nothing  in  the 
way  of  compromise.  The  mob  finally  came  to  a 
vote  on  the  question  —  what  sort  of  public  honors 
shall  be  conferred  on  the  divine  ?  and  a  majority 
gave  their  suffrages  in  favor  of  hanging  —  a  ver- 
dict that  undoubtedly  would  have  been  executed, 
had  not  the  teller  tampered  with  the  returns  in 
the  interest  of  humanity  and  misreported  the  re- 
sult. A  milder  sentence  took  effect.  Extempo- 
rizing a  raft  out  of  cottonwood  logs,  and  placing 
upon  it  the  clergyman  and  his  baggage  —  the 
whole  tricked  out  with  derisive  placards  —  the 
gang  thrust  the  strange  craft  out  into  the  stream 
for  a  down-the-river  voyage.  After  floating  five 
or  six  miles,  escorted  a  part  of  the  distance  by  cit- 
izens of  the  town  who  followed  along  the  banks, 
the  traveler  made  land  and  escaped. 

This   outrage,  which  happened   August   16th, 


82  KANSAS. 

was  afterwards  reenacted  with  variations.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Butler,  undeterred  by  past  experiences, 
visited  Atchison  again  some  months  subsequent 
to  his  voyage  on  the  Missouri,  and  fell  into  the 
clutches  of  a  company  just  arrived  from  South 
Carolina,  who  were  determined  to  put  him  out  of 
the  way.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that 
the  South  Carolinians  could  be  prevailed  upon  to 
scale  down  the  penalty  from  capital  punishment 
to  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers.  They  finally  yielded, 
and  the  coat  of  tar  and  feathers  was  administered. 
An  elaborate  pro -slavery  reception  awaited 
Governor  Shannon  on  his  arrival  at  Shawnee 
Mission  September  3d.  There  was  a  speech  by 
an  orator,  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable  in  high- 
flying sentiment,  who  welcomed  him  to  a  land 
where  "the  gentle  pressure  of  the  hand  attests 
the  cordial  welcome  of  the  heart ;  "  where  no 
Catilines  abound,  "  no  lank  and  hungry  Italians 
with  their  treacherous  smiles,  no  cowards  with 
their  stilettos,  no  assassins  of  reputations."  In 
this  recovered  Eden  "  the  morning  prayer  is 
heard  on  every  hill,  the  evening  orison  is  chanted 
in  every  valley  and  glen."  Doubtless  the  gov- 
ernor was  glad  to  learn  that  rogues  were  scarce  in 
Kansas,  and  that  the  squatters  had  such  a  pen- 
chant for  praying.  He  was  in  accord  with  the 
optimism  of  the  hour.  Reported  disturbances,  like 
the  misfortunes  of  Rev.  Pardee  Butler  two  weeks 
before,  he  believed  to  have  been  grossly  exagger- 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  83 

ated  for  partisan  purposes.  "  There  is  no  state  in 
the  Union  where  persons  and  property  are  more 
secure  than  in  this  territory."  Whatever  irregu- 
larities may  have  attended  the  election  of  the 
legislature,  he  contended  that  it  has  been  duly 
recognized  by  the  territorial  executive  and  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  that  its  laws 
must  be  enforced.  "  I  come  amongst  you,"  the 
governor  said,  "  not  as  a  mere  adventurer  to  bet- 
ter his  fortune  and  then  return  home,  but  as  one 
desiring  for  himself  and  family  a  permanent  loca- 
tion." 

Governor  Shannon  fell  into  an  unfortunate  er- 
ror at  the  beginning  of  his  administration — an 
error  which  he  subsequently  strove  to  correct  — 
in  openly  and  exclusively  affiliating  with  the  Mis- 
souri party.  He  found  that  faction  in  complete 
possession  of  the  government.  Daniel  Woodson, 
secretary  of  state,  who  acted  as  governor  in  the 
interval  between  Reeder's  removal  and  Shannon's 
arrival,  who  signed  the  notorious  laws  of  the  first 
legislature  —  a  manageable  sort  of  man,  easily 
steered  into  any  port  —  was  in  favor  with  the 
pro-slavery  party.  They  were  indignant  because 
President  Pierce  did  not  promote  him  to  the  gov- 
ernorship. For  a  time  Shannon  wholly  resigned 
himself  to  Missouri  influence  and  policy.  He 
unwisely  consented  to  preside  at  a  convention  of 
"  the  lovers  of  law  and  order,"  which  assembled 
at  Leavenworth  November  14th,  to  formulate  and 


84  KANSAS. 

publish  to  the  world  both  their  principles  and  their 
grievances.  The  conduct  of  "  certain  persons  pro- 
fessing to  be  friends  of  human  freedom  "  was  de- 
nounced as  "  practical  nullification,  rebellion,  and 
treason."  The  Topeka  constitutional  conven- 
tion "  would  have  been  a  farce  if  its  purposes  had 
not  been  treasonable."  Any  instrument  which 
the  Topeka  government  may  present  to  Congress 
u  ought  to  be  scouted  from  its  halls  as  an  insult  to 
its  intelligence  and  an  outrage  upon  our  sovereign 
rights."  Governor  Shannon  made  a  speech  which 
was  received  with  vociferous  enthusiasm.  "  The 
president  is  behind  you,"  he  shouted;  "the  pres- 
ident is  behind  you."  The  convention,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  the  meeting  at  Big  Springs, 
formed  a  political  party  which  was  called  the 
"  law  and  order "  party,  and  was  expected  to 
gather  up  all  the  pro-slavery  elements  of  the  ter- 
ritory. The  14th  of  November,  said  "  The  Kan- 
sas Herald  "  on  the  17th,  "  will  be  a  day  long 
to  be  remembered,  for  the  death-knell  of  the  abo- 
lition, nullification,  and  revolutionary  party  was 
sounded." 

But  this  mood  of  exultation  soon  passed  away, 
and  was  followed  by  a  sense  of  disquiet  and  ap- 
prehension. There  began  to  be  suspicions  before 
long  that  no  decisive  victory  had  been  gained 
when  the  legislature  and  the  governor  were  cap- 
tured. Free-state  men  managed  to  ignore  the 
bulky  statutes  of  Shawnee  Mission.  They  dis- 


WAR  ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  85 

carded  all  the  civil  and  legal  machineries  estab- 
lished by  the  legislature  —  courts,  justices  of  the 
peace,  probate  judges,  registers  of  deeds  —  and 
resorted  to  some  make-shift.  In  Lawrence,  deeds 
were  recorded  by  a  private  citizen  who  acted  with- 
out authority  other  than  a  vague,  indefinite  public 
consensus.  Then  these  insurgents  were  consoli- 
dating into  the  unity  of  an  efficient  political  or- 
ganization, and  that  circumstance  began  to  cloud 
the  pro-slavery  sunshine.  Besides,  there  was  the 
audacious  Topeka  movement,  an  amateur  consti- 
tution drawing  upon  itself  the  eyes  of  the  nation, 
rousing  intense  passions  of  friendship  and  hostil- 
ity, and  actually  pushing  through  one  house  of 
Congress. 

The  Missouri  border  became  eager  to  try  more 
vigorous  and  summary  measures  in  the  treatment 
of  territorial  abolitionism  than  had  thus  far  been 
prescribed,  to  substitute  for  the  policy  of  legislat- 
ing the  Yankees  out,  the  policy  of  wiping  them 
out.  In  the  indifferent,  waning  success  of  those 
milder  expedients  which  culminated  at  the  polls, 
and  in  the  compilation  of  iron-clad  statutes,  public 
opinion  steadily  gravitated  toward  an  aggressive 
root-and-branch  policy  as  infolding  larger  buds  of 
promise.  Why  not  disperse  the  intruders  and 
have  a  quick  end  of  the  foolishness  ?  Lawrence, 
in  particular,  as  the  headquarters  of  sedition,  had 
acquired  an  evil  name  that  grew  blacker  with 
every  turn  of  affairs  favorable  to  the  free-state 


86  KANSAS. 

cause.  There  came  to  be  a  general  conviction 
that  nothing  less  than  the  destruction  of  this  op- 
probrious town  would  give  peace  and  safety  to  the 
border,  and  naturally  enough  the  passion  to  ex- 
periment upon  it  with  the  bowie-knife  and  re- 
volver cure  rose  to  an  almost  uncontrollable  pitch. 
Only  a  pretext  was  needed  to  precipitate  an  at- 
tack, and  the  flimsiest  would  be  accepted  if  noth- 
ing better  offered. 

A  fatal  claim-dispute,  November  21st,  1855,  at 
Hickory  Point  —  a  settlement  ten  miles  south  of 
Lawrence  —  furnished  the  coveted  excuse  for  an 
appeal  to  arms.  F.  N.  Coleman,  a  pro-slavery 
squatter,  assassinated  Charles  M.  Dow,  a  young 
neighbor  of  free-state  proclivities,  who  made  his 
home  with  old  Jacob  Branson.  Dow  was  "  a  right 
peaceable  man,"  said  Branson ;  "  a  man  that  I 
thought  as  much  of  as  any  I  ever  got  acquainted 
with." 

Five  days  after  the  killing,  an  excited  band  of 
armed  free-state  men  congregated  about  the  spot 
crimsoned  by  Dow's  blood  to  discuss  under  its 
dark  inspiration  measures  of  retribution.  The 
assassin  and  his  friends  —  implicated  more  or  less 
directly  in  the  crime  —  took  alarm  at  the  earliest 
signs  of  mischief  and  fled  to  Shawnee  Mission.  A 
proposition  to  fire  their  deserted  cabins  was  dis- 
cussed and  rejected,  though  the  adverse  decision 
did  not  save  them  from  being  burnt  down  at  night. 
The  talk  of  the  assembly  befitted  time  and  occa- 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  87 

sion.  It  was  reminiscent,  furious,  stygian,  avenge- 
ful, but  no  plans  of  practical  violence  were  adopted 
beyond  the  appointment  of  a  vigilance  committee, 
with  instructions  "to  ferret  out  and  bring  the 
murderers  and  their  accomplices  to  condign  pun- 
ishment." The  committee  exhibited  more  zeal 
than  marksmanship  in  the  discharge  of  their  du- 
ties if  Coleman  may  be  credited.  "  I  was  not 
safe  in  traveling  through  the  territory,"  he  tes- 
tified before  the  congressional  investigating  com- 
mittee a  few  months  after  the  homicide.  "  I  had 
been  shot  at  more  than  twenty  times  by  men  from 
Lawrence." 

Old  Branson  is  described  as  "  an  elderly  man 
of  most  quiet  and  modest  deportment,"  yet,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  pro-slavery  neighbors, 
whose  evidence  should  be  received  with  abate- 
ments, the  butchery  of  his  friend  stirred  him  to 
great  fluency  of  sanguinary  talk.  They  report 
him  as  swearing  mouth-filling  oaths  that  a  certain 
Harrison  Buckley,  who  egged  on  the  murder, 
"  should  not  breathe  the  pure  air  three  minutes," 
if  he  could  once  draw  a  bead  upon  him.  Buckley, 
in  real  or  simulated  alarm  for  his  life,  procured  a 
peace  warrant  for  Branson's  arrest,  which  was  put 
into  the  hands  of  Samuel  J.  Jones,  lately  com- 
missioned sheriff  of  Douglas  County. 

Sheriff  Jones,  a  prominent  figure  in  coming 
events,  was  a  mixture  of  black  and  white  that 
fairly  represented  the  good  and  evil  of  the  border 


88  KANSAS. 

—  a  man  of  great  energy,  noise,  violence,  courage, 
and  sincerity.  He  won  his  first  partisan  laurels 
at  Blootnington  polls  on  the  30th  of  March,  when 
he  succeeded  in  driving  off  two  or  three  rather 
mettlesome  and  plucky  election  judges.  That  ex- 
ploit gave  him  a  very  odious  reputation  in  free- 
state  circles. 

At  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  November  26th 
a  loud,  unceremonious  thumping  saluted  Bran- 
son's cabin  door.  "  Who  's  there  ?  "  shouted  the 
old  man.  "  Friends,"  was  the  reply.  So  urgent 
was  the  haste  of  these  friends  that  they  forced 
the  door  before  they  could  be  invited  to  come  in. 
They  told  Branson  to  consider  himself  a  prisoner, 
and  to  be  very  careful  how  he  behaved.  Slight 
indiscretions  might  lead  to  unfortunate  results. 
Mrs.  Branson  ventured  to  inquire  of  the  visitors 
by  what  authority  they  were  pouncing  upon  her 
husband  at  dead  of  night,  when  her  attention  was 
called  to  a  seven-shooter  as  a  warrant  singularly 
effective  and  constitutional.  Jones  pulled  Bran- 
son out  of  bed,  ordered  him  to  put  on  his  coat  and 
trousers,  mounted  him  on  a  sharp-backed  mule, 
and  set  off  for  Lecompton  via  Lawrence. 

News  of  the  raid  flew  swiftly  through  the 
neighborhood.  There  was  a  hurried  rally  to  over- 
haul Jones.  On  reaching  Blanton  he  found  Cap- 
tain J.  B.  Abbott  with  fifteen  men  drawn  across 
the  road  to  dispute  his  passage.  "  What 's  up  ?  " 
asked  the  sheriff.  *'  That 's  what  we  want  to 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  89 

know,"  Abbott  growled.  Pistols,  squirrel-guns, 
Sharpe's  rifles,  were  ready  for  business  in  a  twink- 
ling. One  of  Abbott's  men,  in  the  absence  of 
better  armament,  provided  himself  with  two  large 
stones  and  proposed  to  play  the  part  of  a  cata- 
pult against  the  enemy.  But,  notwithstanding 
the  warlike  aspect  of  affairs,  volleys  of  words 
were  the  deadliest  missiles  exchanged.  "  Come 
out  of  that,"  somebody  among  the  rescuers  shouted 
to  Branson,  and  out  of  it  he  came. 

Abbott  and  his  men  hurried  to  Lawrence, 
where  they  arrived  early  in  the  morning.  They 
halted  at  Dr.  Robinson's  house  on  Mt.  Oread. 
"  I  shall  never  forget  the  appearance  of  the  men," 
Mrs.  Robinson  wrote,  "  in  simple  citizen's  dress, 
some  armed  and  some  unarmed,  standing  in  un- 
broken line,  just  visible  in  the  breaking  light  of  a 
November  morning.  The  little  band  of  less  than 
twenty  men  had  .  .  .  walked  ten  miles  since  nine 
o'clock  of  the  previous  evening.  Mr.  Branson,  a 
large  man,  of  fine  proportions,  stood  a  little  for- 
ward of  the  line,  with  his  head  slightly  bent, 
which  an  old  straw  hat  hardly  protected  from 
the  cold,  looking  as  though  in  his  hurry  of  de- 
parture from  home  he  took  whatever  came  first." 

Now  that  the  rescuers  had  succeeded  in  their 
enterprise,  they  began  to  fear  that  it  might  lead 
to  serious  consequences,  and  the  visit  to  Dr.  Rob- 
inson was  for  explanation  and  advice.  S.  N. 
Wood,  who  acted  as  spokesman,  narrated  the 


90  KANSAS. 

events  of  the  night.  "  Now  what  shall  we  do  ?  " 
he  asked  in  conclusion.  "  I  am  afraid  the  affair 
will  make  mischief,"  Robinson  replied.  "  The 
other  side  will  seize  upon  it  as  a  pretext  for  in- 
vading the  territory.  Go  down  to  the  town  and 
call  a  meeting  at  eight  o'clock." 

The  meeting  was  called,  and  after  the  circum- 
stances of  the  rescue  had  been  set  forth  by  Wood 
and  Branson,  Robinson  led  off  in  a  speech,  outlin- 
ing the  policy  which  was  subsequently  pursued  — 
disavowal  of  all  responsibility  in  the  matter,  dis- 
patch of  the  men  who  were  implicated  out  of  town 
without  delay,  and  adoption  of  a  strictly  defen- 
sive attitude.  Conway,  G.  P.  Lowrey,  and  others 
followed  in  the  same  strain.  A  committee  of 
safety  was  appointed  and  clothed  with  authority 
to  take  such  measures  of  precaution  as  the  emer- 
gency might  require. 

Upon  losing  his  prisoner,  Sheriff  Jones  rode  to 
Franklin  distraught  betwixt  conflicting  emotions 
of  rage  and  exultation.  The  success  of  the  Yan- 
kees exasperated  him,  yet  in  that  success  he  fore- 
saw a  sure  dawn  of  day  for  the  pro-slavery  cause 
—  foresaw  the  overthrow  of  Lawrence  and  the 
approach  of  that  millennial  period  when  he  would 
u  corral  all  the  abolitionists  and  make  pets  of 
them." 

Jones  hastened  to  send  missives  from  F.ranklin 
to  his  friends  in  Missouri  calling  for  help.  It 
soon  occurred  to  him  that  appeals  to  Missouri 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  91 

might  have  a  queer  look,  and  couriers  were  sent 
to  Governor  Shannon  with  an  exaggerated  ac- 
count of  the  troubles.  In  the  judgment  of  Jones, 
it  would  require  a  force  of  three  thousand  men 
to  deal  effectually  with  the  traitors  of  Douglas 
County  and  avenge  the  affronts  offered  to  justice. 
The  governor  caught  the  sheriff's  outlaw-crush- 
ing furor,  and  unhesitatingly  ordered  militia  offi- 
cers to  collect  as  large  a  force  as  possible  and 
march  at  once  to  Lawrence.  Nobody,  whether 
sheriff,  militia  general,  or  governor,  thought  it 
necessary  to  communicate  with  that  town,  to  ask 
explanations  or  make  demands.  It  was  not  a 
word  and  a  blow,  but  a  blow  without  the  word. 

Kansas  volunteers  did  not  respond  in  any  large 
numbers  to  the  governor's  summons.  The  town 
of  Franklin  furnished  a  company  led  by  Captain 
Leak  —  a  commander  with  unhappy,  though  not 
disqualifying  antecedents.  "  Mr.  Leak,"  in  the 
words  of  a  resident  of  Franklin,  "  was  a  traveling 
gambler  —  he  told  me  so  himself."  Other  towns 
in  the  territory  furnished  contingents,  but  prob- 
ably the  whole  number  of  Kansans  did  not  exceed 
fifty.  The  great  mass  of  invaders  came  from  Mis- 
souri. They  straggled  along  in  detached  parties 
toward  Lawrence,  armed  with  every  variety  of 
weapons  from  rusty  flint-locks  and  old-fashioned 
horse-pistols  to  modern  rifles,  until  twelve  or  fif- 
teen hundred  of  them  were  concentrated  in  the 
vicinity  —  encamping  for  the  most  part  on  the 


92  KAN8A8. 

Wakarnsa,  a  small  affluent  of  the,  Kansas  River  — 
an  unwashed,  braggart,  volcanic  multitude.  They 
laid  the  surrounding  country  under  contribution, 
overhauled  travelers,  rifled  cabins,  fired  hay-stacks, 
seized  horses  and  cattle  —  in  a  word,  filled  the 
region  with  confusion  as  an  overture  to  letting 
slip  fiercer  dogs  of  war. 

The  militia  generals,  who  responded  to  Shan- 
non's call  with  frolicsome  alacrity  that  befitted  a 
pleasure  jaunt,  grew  sober  on  reaching  Lawrence. 
It  was  found  that  the  committee  of  safety  had 
developed  an  embarrassing  amount  of  defensive 
energy.  The  chief  command  they  intrusted  to 
Dr.  Robinson,  with  the  rank  of  major-general, 
though  he  had  never  seen  military  service.  To 
Lane  they  assigned  a  second  rank.  His  practical 
war-record  would  naturally  have  claimed  the  first, 
but  the  committee,  in  the  grave  and  critical  junc- 
ture, did  not  dare  to  risk  a  frothy,  pictorial,  un- 
ballasted leadership.  Five  small  forts  covered  the 
approaches  to  the  town,  within  the  lines  of  which 
some  six  hundred  men  —  large  reinforcements 
having  arrived  from  neighboring  villages  —  drilled 
incessantly.  Two  hundred  of  these  men  were 
armed  with  Sharpe's  rifles  —  a  vexatious  circum- 
stance that  gave  the  Missourians  pause.  A  fresh 
installment  of  them  —  the  first  reached  Lawrence 
a  few  weeks  after  the  March  election  —  .was  re- 
ceived just  as  hostilities  began.  "  I  have  only  time 
to  thank  you  and  the  friends  who  sent  us  the 


WAR  ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  93 

Sharpe's  rifles,"  Dr.  Robinson  wrote  A.  A.  Law- 
rence December  4th,  "  for  they  .  .  .  will  give  us 
the  victory  without  firing  a  shot." 

General  Eastin,  editor  of  the  pro-slavery  "  Kan- 
sas Herald,"  reconnoitred  Lawrence  and  advised 
Governor  Shannon  that  "the  outlaws  were  well 
fortified,"  —  that  an  assault  upon  them  would  be 
at  heavy  cost.  He  counseled  recourse  to  the  fed- 
eral troops  at  Fort  Leaven  worth.  His  communi- 
cation excited  alarm  at  Shawnee  Mission.  Gov- 
ernor Shannon,  who  had  viewed  the  whole  matter 
as  a  mere  bagatelle,  requested  permission  of  the 
authorities  at  Washington  to  employ  United  States 
soldiers  in  the  emergency.  He  also  urged  Colonel 
E.  V.  Sumner,  in  command  at  Fort  Leavenworth, 
to  march  for  the  scene  of  disturbance  without 
awaiting  orders.  This  request  Sumner  declined 
to  comply  with,  but  suggested  that  the  great  mob 
enveloping  Lawrence  should  be  made  to  under- 
stand it  must  confine  itself  wholly  to  defensive 
operations  —  a  hint  which  was  promptly  acted  on. 
The  War  Department  placed  the  garrison  of  Fort 
Leavenworth  at  Shannon's  service,  but  Colonel 
Sumner  refused  to  move  until  orders  reached  him 
from  Washington. 

If  the  besiegers  outside  of  the  town  found  them- 
selves harassed  by  unexpected  and  increasing  dif- 
ficulties, the  besieged  inside  of  it  were  not  free 
from  perplexities.  The  influx  of  reinforcements 
taxed  the  commissariat  very  heavily.  Whoever 


94  KANSAS. 

possessed  supplies  of  food  or  clothing  found  him- 
self uncomfortably  circumstanced.  The  expres- 
sion on  the  faces  of  tradesmen  as  they  distributed 
their  goods  among  the  soldiery  in  exchange  for 
worthless  scrip  was  like  lamplight  glimmering  on 
the  wall  of  a  sepulchre.  There  was  a  general 
observance  of  order  and  decorum.  Most  citizens 
made  a  virtue  of  necessity  and  contributed  freely 
what  otherwise  must  have  been  rudely  confis- 
cated. In  a  single  instance  a  little  outbreak  of 
violence  occurred  —  expending  itself  in  the  sack  of 
a  small  tailor's  shop.  One  night  during  the  siege, 
according  to  the  story  of  a  clerk,  "  about  twenty 
men,  armed  with  revolvers,"  invaded  the  premises 
and  extinguished  the  lamp  by  firing  a  tobacco:box 
at  it.  "  Before  I  could  light  a  candle,"  the  clerk 
continued,  "  everything  in  the  store  was  taken  off 
the  shelves  and  carried  away."  A  young  woman 
who  had  the  misfortune  to  keep  a  hotel  —  the 
Cincinnati  House  —  in  Lawrence  during  the  im- 
pecunious era  of  the  siege,  wrote  a  few  days  after 
its  close  :  "  It  looked  strange  ...  to  see  the  streets 
paraded  from  morning  till  night  by  men  in  mili- 
tary array  ;  to  see  them  toil  day  and  night  throw- 
ing up  intreiichments ;  to  see  them  come  in  to  their 
meals  each  with  his  gun  in  hand  and  sometimes 
bringing  it  to  the  table.  .  .  .  How  we  toiled  to 
feed  the  multitudes,  seldom  snatching  a  moment 
to  look  out  upon  the  strange  scenes  —  often  ask- 
ing, '  What  are  the  prospects  to-day  ?  '  —  or  at 


WAR  ON  THE   WAKAR  USA.  95 

midnight  as,  worn  and  weary,  we  sought  the 
pillow,  discussing  such  themes  as  these  ...  — 
*  There  's  prospect  of  an  attack  to-night.'  '  The 
guard  has  been  doubled,  and  we  are  all  vigi- 
lance.' "... 

The  sobriety  of  affairs  in  Lawrence  induced  the 
committee  of  safety  to  open  communications  with 
Governor  Shannon.  G.  P.  Lowrey  and  C.  W. 
Babcock  set  out  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  December  6th  for  Shawnee  Mission.  Near 
Franklin  they  encountered  a  picket  -  guard,  and 
were  ordered  to  advance  and  give  the  countersign. 
"  We  got  the  cork  out  of  the  only  countersign  we 
had  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  passed  us."  The 
commissioners  soon  stumbled  upon  another  batch 
of  sentinels.  "  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  they  de- 
manded. "  Things  are  getting  dangerous  here- 
abouts," said  Babcock,  "  and  I  've  made  up  my 
mind  to  scoot  for  Illinois."  "  Abolitionists  scared 
in  Lawrence,  eh?  Don't  believe  we  can  let  you 
pass."  After  some  discussion  it  was  agreed  that 
the  officer  in  command,  who  turned  out  to  be  the 
traveling  gambler,  Captain  Leak,  should  be  con- 
sulted. This  worthy  was  reported  asleep,  but  it 
was  a  sort  of  sleep  which  the  most  energetic  shak- 
ing, permitted  by  a  very  lax  military  etiquette, 
could  not  break,  and  his  valuable  advice  was  in- 
accessible. The  commissioners  managed  to  pacify 
the  guard  and  worry  through  the  lines.  In  gen- 
eral, the  Missourians  were  talkative  and  expressed 


96  KANSAS. 

their  opinions  unreservedly.  Some  of  them  fumed 
over  reports  that  the  Lawrence  outlaws  had  sub- 
stituted a  red  flag  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
Some  gloried  in  the  ruin  about  to  fall  on  the  abo- 
lition stronghold  —  a  ruin  that  would  not  leave 
one  stone  upon  another.  Others  cursed  Reeder 
as  the  author  of  all  the  trouble  —  "  We  must 
have  his  head  even  if  we  have  to  go  to  Pennsylva- 
nia after  it." 

Lowrey  and  Babcock  found  Governor  Shannon 
in  ill  humor.  He  roundly  denounced  free-state 
men  —  charged  them  with  driving  from  the  ter- 
ritory settlers  who  were  politically  obnoxious  and 
firing  their  cabins,  and  with  displaying  a  startling 
spirit  of  insubordination  and  rebellion  by  their  re- 
sistance to  territorial  officers  and  their  nullifica- 
tion of  territorial  laws.  The  delegation  from 
Lawrence  contended  that  the  governor  had  been 
deceived ;  that  Lawrence  was  no  more  responsible 
for  the  rescue  of  Branson  than  for  the  precession 
of  the  equinoxes ;  that  the  question  of  territorial 
legislation  did  not  enter  into  present  complica- 
tions, and  that  he  was  beating  about  in  heavy  fogik 
of  ignorance  and  misapprehension  concerning  the 
facts  out  of  which  they  rose.  "  I  shall  go  to  Law- 
rence," said  Shannon,  "  and  insist  upon  the  people 
agreeing  to  obey  the  laws  and  delivering  up  their 
Sharpe's  rifles."  "  We  have  not  resisted  the 
laws,"  the  commissioners  retorted.  "  As  to  the 
rifles  nobody  would  be  safe  in  going  before  our 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  97 

people  with  any  proposition  to  deliver  them  up. 
If  you  have  such  an  idea  you  had  better  stay  away 
and  let  the  fight  go  on." 

For  the  first  time  suspicions  began  to  haunt 
Shannon  that  he  might  have  been  misled  by  his 
Missouri  advisers.  The  shrewdness,  poise,  and 
quickness  to  detect  an  opponent's  weak  points  dis- 
played among  the  outlaws,  whose  intelligence  he 
had  put  at  a  paltry  valuation,  astonished  Shannon. 
They  ought  to  have  scattered  like  a  flock  of  af- 
frighted birds  at  the  first  rustle  of  danger  instead 
of  digging  trenches,  learning  the  manual  of  arms, 
and  discovering  an  embarrassing  skill  in  diplo- 
macy. 

The  governor,  on  his  arrival  at  the  Wakarusa 
camp,  found  the  militia,  excited  by  whiskey  and 
ignorant  of  free-state  strength,  clamoring  for  per- 
mission to  attack  the  town.  He  spared  no  efforts 
to  discourage  their  frenzy.  In  this  movement 
he  was  heartily  and  effectively  seconded  by  Atch- 
ison.  "But  for  his  mediatorial  offices,"  said 
Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  speaking  in  the  Senate 
March  5th,  1856,  vaguely  and  imperfectly  com- 
prehending the  ugly  dilemma  in  which  the  over- 
hasty  Missourians  found  themselves,  "  the  homes 
of  Lawrence  would  have  been  burned  and  the 
streets  drenched  with  blood."  Senator  Butler 
thought  that  these  kind  offices  were  very  inade- 
quately appreciated.  But  let  the  ingrates  be- 
ware. "  If  ever  D.  R.  Atchison  shall  pass  the  line 
7 


98  KANSAS. 

again  and  say  as  Caesar  did,  '  I  have  passed  the 
Rubicon  and  now  I  draw  the  sword,'  I  should 
dread  the  contest." 

Shannon  visited  Lawrence  December  7th,  in 
company  with  prominent  Missourians,  to  prose- 
cute negotations  for  peace.  Robinson  and  Lane 
received  the  visitors  in  behalf  of  the  citizens  and 
of  the  committee  of  safety.  The  interview  com- 
pletely undeceived  Shannon.  Now  the  pressing 
question  was  not  how  to  disperse  free-state  out- 
laws, but  how,  without  an  explosion,  to  disperse 
the  Missourians,  whom  the  governor  called  "  a 
pack  of  hyenas."  To  accomplish  this  he  urged  the 
representatives  of  Lawrence  to  be  as  generous  as 
possible  in  the  matter  of  concessions.  A  treaty 
was  concluded,  astutely  designed  to  bear  more 
than  one  interpretation  —  a  treaty  in  which  con- 
tradictory phrases  shouldered  and  jostled  each 
other,  but  which  succeeded  amidst  the  confusion 
in  informing  the  Missourians  that  the  governor 
"has  not  called  upon  persons  residents  of  any 
other  state  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  laws, 
and  such  as  are  here  in  this  territory  are  here  of 
their  own  choice." 

Governor  Shannon  called  a  meeting  of  the  Mis- 
souri commanders  at  Franklin.  They  were  not 
consulted  about  the  treaty,  and  knew  nothing  of 
its  tenor.  With  the  exception  of  Atchison,  who 
did  not  relish  the  pass  to  which  matters  had  come 
and  declined  to  attend,  the  principal  military 


WAR  ON   THE    WAKARUSA.  99 

men  were  present.  Shannon  insisted  that  Rob- 
inson and  Lane  should  accompany  him  to  Frank- 
lin, and  assist  in  sugar-coating  the  unpalatable 
treaty.  The  governor  led  off  in  a  long  talk,  and 
rehearsed  the  details  of  the  campaign.  Lane  fol- 
lowed, but  had  hardly  spoken  half-a-dozen  sen- 
tences when  some  arrogance  of  manner  or  impol- 
icy of  language  gave  offense,  and  the  sensitive 
gentry  began  to  pick  up  their  hats  and  revolvers. 
"  Wait  a  minute,"  Shannon  interposed,  "  and  hear 
what  Dr.  Robinson  has  to  say."  Robinson  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  attention  of  the  restless 
audience,  while  he  expounded  the  unreason  of  the 
demand,  so  popular  among  Missourians,  that  free- 
state  men  should  surrender  their  Sharpe's  rifles. 
They  had  a  constitutional  right  to  bear  arms. 
You,  gentlemen,  in  your  own  case,  would  not  for 
an  instant  tolerate  the  impertinence  of  such  a 
claim.  Further,  Lawrence  was  not  a  party  to 
the  assault  upon  Jones.  What  is  more,  Lawrence 
has  never  resisted  the  service  of  a  legal  writ.  "  Is 
that  so,  Mr.  Sheriff  ?  "  a  militia  colonel  broke  in. 
The  sheriff  could  not  deny  the  statement.  "  Then 
we  have  been  damnably  deceived,"  said  the  colonel. 
The  inevitable  must  be  accepted,  and  the  baf- 
fled Missourians  swore  with  a  lighter  accent  than 
might  have  been  expected.  Sheriff  Jones  was 
disgusted  at  the  turn  of  affairs.  Hopes  of  a  fu- 
ture opportunity  to  settle  with  the  abolitionists 
gave  him  a  little  comfort.  "  I  '11  get  up  another 


100  KANSAS. 

scrape,"  he  said,  "if  I'm  opposed -in  executing 
the  laws.  No  old  granny  shall  stop  me  next 
time." 

Atchison  did  not  remit  his  efforts  for  peace. 
"  The  position  of  General  Robinson  is  impreg- 
nable," he  said  in  a  speech  to  the  disgusted  in- 
vaders, "  not  in  a  military  point  of  view,  but  his 
tactics  have  given  him  all  the  advantage  as  to  the 
cause  of  quarrel.  If  you  attack  Lawrence  now, 
you  attack  it  as  a  mob,  and  what  would  be  the 
result?  You  would  cause  the  election  of  an  abo- 
lition president  and  the  ruin  of  the  Democratic 
party.  Wait  a  little.  You  cannot  now  destroy 
these  people  without  losing  more  than  you  would 
gain." 

Saturday,  December  8th,  the  pleasant  weather 
—  so  mild  that  many  soldiers  on  both  sides  were 
in  summer  clothing — suddenly  changed  into  win- 
ter. In  the  evening  a  tremendous  sleet-storm  set 
in  and  extinguished  among  the  Missourians  what- 
ever ardor  for  fighting  may  have  survived  the 
frosty  articles  of  peace.  They  retired  sullenly, 
carrying  three  "  dead  bodies  —  one  killed  by  the 
falling  of  a  tree,  one  shot  by  the  guard  acciden- 
tally, and  one  killed  in  some  sort  of  a  quarrel." 
The  victory  of  Lawrence  was  complete  —  a  blood- 
less victory  won  by  strategy. 

A  single  voice  was  raised  in  solemn  and  public 
protest  against  the  peace.  After  the  treaty  and 
its  stipulations  had  become  known  ;  after  speeches 


WAR   ON  THE    WAKARUSA.  101 

of  felicitation  on  the  happy  subsidence  of  perils 
that  threatened  to  engulf  the  settlement  in  ruin 
had  been  made,  an  unknown  man  —  tall,  slender, 
angular  ;  his  face  clean-shaved,  sombre,  strongly 
lined,  of  Puritan  tone  and  configuration  ;  his 
blue  -  gray  eyes  honest,  inexorable  ;  strange,  un- 
worldly intensities  enveloping  him  like  an  atmos- 
phere —  mounted  a  dry-goods  box  and  began  to 
denounce  the  treaty  as  an  attempt  to  gain  by 
foolish,  uncomprehending  make-shift  what  could 
be  compassed  only  by  the  shedding  of  blood. 
Since  that  day  the  name  of  this  unknown  man, 
plucked  down  from  the  dry-goods  box  with  his 
speech  mostly  unspoken,  has  filled  the  post-horns 
of  the  world  —  Old  John  Brown. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS. 

THE  winter  of  1855-56  in  Kansas  was  of  a 
Siberian  character.  For  a  time  meteorological 
woes  surpassed  all  others  in  the  territory.  The 
sleet-tempest  that  celebrated  the  close  of  the  Wa- 
karusa  war  faithfully  foretokened  the  coming 
months.  For  the  most  part  the  immigrants  were 
very  inadequately  protected  against  the  sudden 
and  extreme  cold.  Log  huts  —  the  common  type 
of  dwelling  —  had  few  attractions  for  winter  res- 
idence. Ordinarily  they  were  a  sorry  affair  —  a 
floorless  pen  of  half-hewn  logs,  roughly  battened 
with  a  filling  of  stones,  sticks,  and  mud  —  the 
whole  loosely  roofed  over,  and  usually  containing 
a  single  room.  In  the  absence  of  anything  bet- 
ter, doors  and  windows  were  manufactured  out  of 
cotton  cloth.  Into  these  rickety  cabins  storms 
drifted  from  every  quarter  —  above,  beneath, 
around. 

"  I  failed  to  complete  my  log-house  before  the 
winter  of  1855-56  set  in,"  said  Captain  Samuel 
Walker.  "  The  sides  were  up,  roofed,  and  partly 
plastered  when  the  Wakarusa  war  interrupted 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  103 

work.  On  my  return  home,  after  the  conclusion 
of  peace,  the  cold  was  so  severe  that  nothing  more 
could  be  done,  and  we  had  to  shift  as  best  we 
could  until  warm  weather.  Our  cabin  had  no 
floor,  but  we  were  as  well  off  in  this  particular 
as  most  of  our  neighbors.  Chinks  and  fissures 
abounded  in  roof  and  gables,  as  the  green  slabs 
with  which  they  were  covered  warped  badly. 
Seven  of  us  made  up  the  family  —  five  children, 
mostly  small.  At  times,  when  the  winds  were 
bleakest,  we  actually  went  to  bed  as  the  only  es- 
cape from  freezing.  More  than  once  we  woke  in 
the  morning  to  find  six  inches  of  snow  in  the 
cabin.  To  get  up,  to  make  one's  toilet  under 
such  circumstances,  was  not  a  very  comfortable 
performance.  Often  we  had  little  to  eat  —  the 
wolf  was  never  very  far  from  our  door  during  that 
hard  winter  of  18o5-56." 

The  inhospitalities  of  Kansas  frontier  life  fell 
with  peculiar  severity  upon  women.  "  He  who 
has  seen  the  sufferings  of  men,"  said  Victo  Hugo, 
"  has  seen  nothing.  Let  him  look  upon  the  suf- 
ferings of  women."  Burdened  with  drudgeries 
in  their  most  primitive,  unrelieved  shape,  ex- 
posed to  all  the  anxieties  and  perils  which  a  state 
of  anarchy  implies,  denied  the  relief  of  public 
and  aggressive  service  —  their  heroic,  untrum- 
peted  endurance  was  not  least  heroic  and  worthy 
among  the  pioneer  services  rendered  to  Kansas. 

Severities  of  winter,  that  frost-bit   the  ill-fur- 


104  KANSAS. 

nished  settlers,  called  a  truce  to  active  hostilities. 
Yet  warlike  movements,  that  point'ed  to  future  in- 
vasions on  a  more  formidable  scale  than  had 
heretofore  been  attempted,  continued  along  the 
border.  "  We  have  reliable  information,"  Kobin- 
son  wrote  A.  A.  Lawrence  January  25th,  1856, 
"  that  extensive  preparations  are  being  made  in 
Missouri  for  the  destruction  of  Lawrence  and  all 
the  free-state  settlements.  You  can  have  no  idea 
of  the  character  of  the  men  with  whom  we  have 
to  deal.  We  are  purchasing  ammunition  and 
stores  of  all  kinds  for  a  siege.  .  .  .  We  have  tele- 
graphed to  the  president  and  members  of  Con- 
gress and  the  Northern  governors  our  condition, 
and  sent  out  six  men  to  raise  an  army  for  the 
defense  of  Kansas  and  the  Union.  ...  I  am  do- 
ing my  utmost  to  conquer  without  bloodshed,  and 
I  believe  that  if  my  suggestions  are  acted  upon 
promptly  in  the  states  we  shall  avoid  a  war.  .  .  . 
Our  plans  are  all  well  laid,  and  if  the  states  will 
do  their  part  promptly,  I  believe  but  little  money 
will  be  actually  used,  and  no  lives  lost." 

Among  the  six  men  dispatched  eastward  on  a 
mission  of  explanation  and  appeal  were  J.  S.  Em- 
ery, M.  F.  Con  way,  and  G.  W.  Smith.  They  left 
Lawrence  about  the  middle  of  January  in  a  buggy, 
which  they  soon  found  of  little  service  on  the 
snow-clogged  roads.  Before  starting  the  company 
held  a  consultation  concerning  the  safest  method  of 
managing  their  credentials.  Should  some  border- 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  105 

ruffian  with  a  turn  for  investigation  discover  these 
credentials,  the  party  would  very  likely  receive 
rough  usage.  In  the  midst  of  their  perplexities  a 
bright  thought  struck  Smith  —  "  Boys,  I  've  hit 
it.  In  Missouri  everybody  carries  a  jug.  There 
a  jug  never  excites  suspicion.  Put  the  papers  in 
jugs  with  corncob  stoppers  and  they  '11  be  safe." 
The  suggestion  was  greeted  with  applause  and 
immediately  carried  into  effect.  Plodding  slowly 
across  the  State  of  Missouri — the  journey  occu- 
pied two  weeks  —  masquerading  under  various 
disguises,  the  travelers  safely  reached  the  Missis- 
sippi River  opposite  Quincy,  Illinois,  over  which 
they  walked  on  the  ice.  Midway  in  the  river  they 
halted,  broke  the  jugs,  and  transferred  the  creden- 
tials to  their  pockets.  This  delegation,  and  other 
delegations  that  followed,  successfully  pleaded  the 
free-state  cause  in  the  North  and  East. 

There  was  also  stir  and  excitement  at  the 
South,  from  which  bands  of  armed  emigrants 
reached  the  territory  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  1856.  *'  Even  in  my  own  state,"  said  Sen- 
ator Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  "  I  perceive  parties 
are  being  formed  to  go  to  Kansas  —  adventurous 
young  men  who  will  fight  anybody."  The  sena- 
tor probably  had  in  mind  the  operations  of  Major 
Jefferson  Buford,  of  Alabama,  who  conducted 
thither  the  most  notorious  company  of  Southern 
immigrants.  Buford  issued  a  call  for  three  hun- 
dred men,  promising  them  by  way  of  inducements 


106  KANSAS. 

transportation,  support  for  a  year,  a  homestead, 
and  the  satisfaction  of  a  chance  at  the  abolition- 
ists. He  fitted  out  the  expedition  largely  from 
his  own  resources.  To  reimburse  the  outlay,  it 
was  understood  that  each  member  of  the  company 
would  take  up  a  claim,  one  half  of  which  should 
be  turned  over  to  Buford.  But  the  venture  did 
not  succeed  financially,  as  few  of  the  company  be- 
came permanent  residents  of  Kansas. 

The  appearance  of  Buford  on  the  border  encour- 
aged the  pro-slavery  leaders.  "  Our  hearts  have 
been  made  glad,"  said  the  managers  of  the  La- 
fayette Emigration  Society,  —  a  Missouri  organi- 
zation,—  in  an  appeal  to  the  South,  "by  the  late  ar- 
rivals of  large  companies  from  South  Carolina  and 
Alabama.  They  have  responded  promptly  to  our 
call  for  help.  The  noble  Buford  is  already  en- 
deared to  our  hearts  ;  we  love  him  ;  we  will  fight 
for  him  and  die  for  him  and  his  companions.  Who 
will  follow  his  noble  example  ?  We  tell  you  now 
and  tell  you  frankly,  that  unless  you  come  quickly 
and  come  by  thousands  we  are  gone.  The  election 
once  lost,  we  are  lost  forever.  Then  farewell  to 
our  Southern  cause  and  farewell  to  our  glorious 
Union." 

Congress  shared  inevitably  in  the  disturbances 
which  radiated  North  and  South  from  Kansas  — ' 
a  word  seized  upon  according  to  the  "  Democratic 
Review  "  "  by  the  most  cunning  of  modern  magi- 
cians, the  abolitionists,  to  raise  the  devil  with." 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  107 

Numerous  expedients  for  allaying  these  disastrous 
agitations  came  to  the  surface.  Senator  Critten- 
deu,  of  Kentucky,  proposed  unsuccessfully  thut 
Lieutenant-General  Scott  should  be  sent  to  Kan- 
sas as  pacificator,  equipped  with  "  the  sword  in 
his  left  hand  and  in  his  right  hand  —  peace,  gen- 
tle peace."  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  submitted  a  plan 
of  adjustment,  the  terms  of  which  were  fair  and 
unpartisan.  It  contemplated  the  appointment  of 
five  commissioners  —  men  of  the  highest  charac- 
ter and  selected  from  both  parties  —  who  should 
take  an  accurate  census,  apportion  the  territory 
into  districts,  and  on  the  4th  of  November,  1856, 
cause  an  election  to  be  held  for  delegates  to  a  con- 
stitutional convention,  at  which  all  male  citizens, 
residents  of  three  months'  standing,  might  vote. 
December  1st  these  delegates  were  to  assemble, 
take  under  advisement  the  question  of  establish- 
ing a  state  government,  and,  should  it  be  decided 
affirmatively,  enter  at  once  upon  the  work. 

This  bill,  though  energetically  combated  by 
anti-slavery  senators  from  distrust  of  President 
Pierce,  in  whose  hands  the  appointment  of  com- 
missioners was  lodged,  and  from  apprehensions  that 
in  some  way  Missouri  would  again  decisively  in- 
terfere, passed  the  Senate,  but  did  not  survive  the 
opposition  of  the  House.  That  body  originated 
and  sanctioned  a  measure  known  as  the  Dunn  bill, 
the  leading  features  of  which  were  —  the  election 
of  a  new  territorial  legislature  in  November,  the 


108  KANSAS. 

dismissal  of  criminal  prosecutions  for  offenses 
against  territorial  laws,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  though  it  was  stipulated 
that  slaves,  already  in  the  territory,  should  not  be 
disturbed  before  January,  1858.  This  scheme 
failed  in  the  Senate. 

Out  of  the  various  bills,  compromises,  substi- 
tutes, amendments,  which  appeared  in  Congress 
during  the  spring  and  summer  of  1856,  a  single 
measure  only  emerged  that  reached  any  practical 
importance  —  the  appointment  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  an  investigating  committee, 
the  members  of  which  were  William  A.  Howard, 
of  Michigan,  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  and  Morde- 
cai  Oliver,  of  Missouri.  This  committee  proceeded 
to  the  territory,  held  its  first  meeting  at  Kansas 
City  April  14th,  examined  three  hundred  and 
twenty -three  witnesses,  who  represented  every 
shade  of  political  opinion,  and  on  the  1st  and  2d 
of  July  presented  a  report,  in  which  a  great  mass 
of  facts  is  accumulated  wholly  creditable  to 
neither  side. 

Early  in  the  spring  the  local  campaign  showed 
signs  of  life.  Sheriff  Jones,  who  had  a  touch  of 
genius  for  finding  quarrel  in  a  straw,  led  off  in 
the  revived  operations.  He  still  pursued  the  pol- 
icy which  barely  missed  success  in  the  Wakarusa 
war,  fumed  about  Lawrence  with  much  insolent 
ado,  and  attempted  without  success  to  arrest  S.  N. 
Wood,  who,  in  addition  to  taking  a  prominent 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  109 

part  in  the  Branson  matter,  had  made  himself 
still  more  obnoxious  by  doing  effective  free-state 
service  on  the  stump  in  Ohio.  Jones  pursued  his 
efforts  to  arrest  different  people  at  Lawrence,  un- 
til at  last  he  got  a  sharp  blow  in  the  face  from 
somebody  who  resented  his  familiarities.  There- 
upon he  rode  to  Lecompton  and  reported  to  Gov- 
ernor Shannon  that  he  had  been  assaulted  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties,  and  demanded  a  military 
escort  for  his  protection.  April  23d  he  reap- 
peared in  town  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Mc- 
Intosh  and  eleven  soldiers.  He  succeeded  in  ar- 
resting six  citizens  on  the  charge  of  "  contempt 
of  court,"  as  they  declined  to  assist  him  in 
making  arrests  during  former  visits.  Instead  of 
proceeding  to  Lecompton  with  his  prisoners,  he 
remained  in  town,  possibly  with  the  hope  of  ex- 
citing an  attempt  at  rescue.  Though  threats 
had  been  freely  made  against  him,  he  chose  to 
spend  the  night  in  Mclntosh's  tent  rather  than 
in  less  exposed  quarters.  During  the  evening 
Jones  and  the  lieutenant  went  out  to  a  neigh- 
boring water  barrel  for  a  drink.  While  they  were 
there  a  shot  was  fired  from  a  little  knot  of  men 
standing  at  no  great  distance.  "  I  believe  that 
was  intended  for  me,"  said  Jones,  with  a  shrug. 
The  lieutenant  thought  he  must  be  mistaken  as 
several  pistols  had  been  discharged,  apparently 
into  the  air,  since  night-fall.  "  That  was  intended 
for  me,"  said  Jones,  when  they  returned  to  the 


110  KANSAS. 

tent,  "for  here  is  the  hole  in  my'pants."  The 
lieutenant  hurried  out  to  investigate  the  affair. 
"I  immediately  joined  the  crowd,"  he  reports, 
"  and  while  speaking  to  them  heard  another  shot, 
and  at  the  same  time  some  of  my  men  exclaimed, 
'  Lieutenant,  the  sheriff  is  dead. ' '  Not  many 
seconds  later  a  young  man  —  J.  P.  Filer  by  name 
—  with  his  pistol  still  smoking  —  burst  into  a 
cabin  hard  by  where  two  or  three  chums  were  sit- 
ting, and  said,  "  Boys,  hide  this  ;  I  've  shot  Sheriff 
Jones."  After  a  hasty  consultation  they  decided 
not  to  betray  the  culprit,  and  pledged  themselves 
by  a  solemn  oath  to  silence.  For  a  quarter  of  a 
century  the  secret  was  faithfully  kept. 

The  shooting  intensified  the  general  excite- 
ment. A  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Law- 
rence on  the  following  day  denounced  it  "  as  the 
act  of  some  malicious  and  evil-disposed  individ- 
ual," for  whose  arrest  they  offered  a  reward  of 
five  hundred  dollars.  The  congressional  investi- 
gating committee  were  in  session  at  Lawrence,  and 
Whitfield,  pro-slavery  delegate  to  Congress,  seized 
upon  the  unfortunate  affair  as  a  plausible  pretext 
for  attempting  to  break  down  the  investigation. 
He  declared  himself  in  fear  for  his  life,  expatiated 
on  the  unreasonableness  of  asking  witnesses  to 
venture  into  an  assassin's  den,  and  actually  fled 
the  town,  but  crept  back  in  a  few  days  on  finding 
that  his  absence  did  not  affect  the  committee. 
Pro-slavery  newspapers  eulogized  Jones  as  a  no- 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  Ill 

ble  patriot,  "  shot  down  by  the  thieving  paupers 
of  the  North."  Though  the  wound  did  not  prove 
fatal,  reports  of  bis  death  were  current  and  roused 
fiercer  passions  upon  the  border  than  lay  within 
the  compass  of  any  Branson-rescue  exploit.  "  His 
murder  shall  be  avenged,"  said  the  "  Squatter 
Sovereign,"  "  if  at  the  sacrifice  of  every  aboli- 
tionist in  the  territory.  .  .  .  We  are  now  in  favor 
of  leveling  Lawrence  and  chastising  the  traitors 
there  congregated,  should  it  result  in  the  total 
destruction  of  the  Union." 

At  this  juncture  the  pro-slavery  cause  was  pow- 
erfully reinforced  by  the  appearance  in  the  field 
of  the  territorial  judiciary.  Early  in  May  the 
grand  jury  of  Douglas  County  was  in  session  at 
Lecompton.  This  jury  Judge  S.  D.  Lecompte, 
chief  justice  of  the  territory,  instructed  at  large 
in  reference  to  the  extraordinary  conditions  and 
responsibilities  under  which  they  met.  An  ex- 
position of  the  nature  of  treason  figured  in  the 
address,  the  tenor  of  which,  the  judge  writes,  De- 
cember 31st,  1884,  "has  been  most  grossly  mis- 
represented." 

"  I  have  been  charged  with  resorting  to  a  constructive 
treason  as  within  the  scope  of  legitimate  prosecution. 
I  made  no  such  flagrant  departure  from  recognized 
American  authorities  —  I  did  not  adopt  as  legitimate  or 
tenable  the  monstrous  proposition  of  stretching  by  con- 
struction the  language  of  the  Constitution  to  create  a 
crime  not  within  its  clear  and  unavoidable  import.  I 


112  KANSAS. 

remember  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday  that  I  distinctly 
and  explicitly  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  constructive 
treason.  I  remember,  too,  that  I  explained  the  phrase- 
ology of  the  Constitution  on  this  point  in  the  spirit,  if 
not  in  the  words,  of  Wharton.  Passing  to  the  state  of 
public  affairs  I  took  up  the  question  whether  treason 
could  be  committed  against  the  United  States  by  levy- 
ing war  upon  the  territorial  government.  I  then  held 
and  still  hold  such  hostility  to  be  treason  against  the 
federal  government.  What  constitutes  hostility  in  this 
penal  sense  I  also  expounded  with  careful  avoidance  of 
adding  a  word  beyond  established  doctrine.  In  my 
opinion  the  jury  that  dealt  with  these  questions  was 
not  inferior  to  any  of  its  successors  in  patriotism,  fair- 
ness, or  intelligence.  That,  in  the  madness  of  partisan, 
strife,  under  the  provocations  of  unprincipled  leaders, 
when  the  laws  of  the  territory  were  denounced  as 
'  bogus,'  their  authority  defied,  and  an  opposing  legisla- 
ture, without  semblance  of  authority,  set  up,  when  in- 
surgent military  forces  were  organizing,  equipping, 
drilling — that,  I  say  in  such  untoward  circumstances, 
the  judiciary  should  have  felt  called  upon  to  instruct  the 
grand  jury  upon  the  subject  of  treason,  that  the  grand 
jury  should  have  made  presentments,  and  the  district 
attorney  preferred  indictments,  can  hardly  be  a  cause 
for  wonder." 

On  the  list  of  traitors  were  Robinson,  Reeder, 
Lane,  and  several  other  men  prominent  in  free- 
state  circles.  A  companion  indictment  for  "  usur- 
pation of  office  "  was  also  issued  against  Robinson. 

In  the  reorganized  campaign  the  first  attack  fell 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  113 

upon  Reeder,  who  was  summoned  May  6th  before 
the  grand  jury  of  Douglas  County,  while  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  investigating  committee  at  Te- 
cumseh.  He  declined  to  obey  the  subpoena  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  of  more  importance  that  he 
should  attend  the  sessions  of  the  committee  than 
of  the  grand  jury.  Thursday,  May  8th,  the  com- 
mittee returned  to  Lawrence.  There  Deputy  Mar- 
shal Fain  appeared  with  an  attachment  against 
Reeder  for  "  contempt  of  court."  Reeder  refused 
to  be  captured,  and  told  the  marshal  that  if  he 
touched  him  it  would  be  at  his  peril  —  a  show  of 
spirit  that  pleased  the  spectators,  who  came  crowd- 
ing into  the  room.  But  the  situation  soon  grew 
intolerable,  and  there  was  safety  only  in  flight. 
Reeder  succeeded  in  reaching  Kansas  City,  where 
he  lay  concealed  some  days  at  the  American  House, 
a  hotel  kept  by  the  Eldridge  brothers.  The  well- 
known  free -state  character  of  the  hotel  gave  it 
about  town  a  bad  name,  which  was  now  blackened 
especially  by  rumors  that  abolitionists  were  skulk- 
ing there  —  rumors  that  subjected  it  to  constant 
mob  -  surveillance.  On  one  occasion,  suspicious 
border-ruffians  resorted  to  a  formal  search  of  the 
premises,  and  it  was  only  by  the  cleverest  in- 
genuity and  presence  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the 
household  that  they  failed  to  unearth  the  fugitive. 
While  concealed  in  the  hotel,  Reeder  concluded 
that  the  time  had  fully  come  to  make  his  will, 
into  which  he  incorporated  a  brief  but  vigorous  de- 


114  KANSAS. 

scription  of  the  men  who  were  frothing  about  his 
hiding  -  place,  "  I,  Andrew  H.  Reeder  :  ...  in 
danger  of  being  murdered  by  a  set  of  wild  ruf- 
fians and  outlaws,  who  are  outside  of  all  restraints 
of  order,  decency,  and  all  social  obligations,  and 
who  are  below  the  savage  in  all  the  virtues  of 
civilization  ...  in  view  of  my  death,  which  may 
happen  to-day  or  to-morrow,  make  this  last  will 
and  testament." 

Reeder  escaped  in  disguise.  Donning  a  suit  of 
blue  jean,  with  a  battered  straw  hat  on  his  head, 
a  clay  pipe  in  his  mouth,  and  an  axe  in  his  hand 
—  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  seedy  journey- 
man wood-chopper  —  he  walked  out  of  the  hotel 
undetected,  was  rowed  down  the  Missouri  to  an 
out-of-the-way  landing,  where  a  friendly  river 
captain,  who  was  in  the  secret,  stopped  for  him. 
"  Get  aboard,  you  old  seal  la  wag,"  shouted  the 
captain  with  simulated  gruffness  as  the  steamer 
touched  the  landing.  "I  won't  wait  two  minutes 
for  you !  " 

The  Lecompton  authorities  intended  to  act 
with  no  less  vigor  in  Robinson's  case.  The  gen- 
eral plan  of  operations  came  to  his  ears  through 
some  defection  among  the  grand  jury.  What 
course  ought  to  be  pursued  in  the  crisis  was  the 
subject  of  anxious  discussion.  An  all  night  con- 
sultation took  place  in  Topeka,  at  which  John 
Sherman,  W.  A.  Howard,  Charles  Robinson,  and 
W.  Y.  Roberts,  together  with  Mrs.  Sherman  and 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  115 

Mrs.  Robinson,  were  present,  to  settle  upon  a  line 
of  policy.  Should  the  territorial  laws,  which 
denounced  penalties  of  imprisonment  against  the 
utterance  of  anti-slavery  sentiments,  be  enforced, 
a  wholesale  locking  up  of  free-state  men  would 
follow.  The  conclusions  reached  at  the  conference 
had  a  belligerent  look.  For  the  first  and  last 
time,  representatives  of  the  state  government  se- 
riously entertained  purposes  of  resisting  the  ter- 
ritorial authorities.  The  plans  as  outlined  con- 
templated further  appeals  to  the  North  in  hope  of 
stirring  it  to  active  measures  of  sympathy,  urged 
free-state  men,  obnoxious  to  the  authorities,  to 
avoid  arrest  as  far  as  possible,  and  recommended 
the  calling  of  an  extra  session  of  the  state  legis- 
lature for  the  purpose  of  putting  the  militia  on  a 
war-footing,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  emergen- 
cies. A  halt  must  be  called  somewhere.  If  pro- 
slavery  men  were  determined  to  force  a  collision, 
no  better  spot  offered  for  a  hostile  stand  than 
the  state  government.  It  was  agreed  that  Gov- 
ernor Robinson  should  proceed  eastward  without 
delay  to  avoid  the  grand  jury,  as  that  body  had 
as  yet  taken  no  action  in  his  case  ;  that  he  should 
confer  with  anti-slavery  friends,  and  put  the  testi- 
mony thus  far  taken  before  the  investigating  com- 
mittee beyond  the  reach  of  pro-slavery  men,  who 
would  have  been  glad  to  get  possession  of  it. 

The  plan  miscarried.     Governor  Robinson  got 
no  farther   eastward   than   Lexington,   Missouri, 


116  KANSAS. 

where  he  was  seized  and  detained-.  Mrs.  Rob- 
inson, who  was  allowed  to  proceed,  delivered  the 
papers  of  the  congressional  committee  to  Governor 
Chase,  of  Ohio,  and  prosecuted  the  political  func- 
tions of  the  embassy  by  visiting  New  England  and 
by  attending  the  republican  state  convention  of 
Illinois. 

The  arrest  at  Lexington  was  entirely  arbitrary. 
Robinson  remained  there  under  surveillance  nearly 
a  week  before  the  necessary  legal  papers  could  be 
obtained  from  Kansas.  When  they  arrived  he 
was  handed  over  to  Federal  Colonel  Preston,  who 
set  out  with  him  for  Lecompton.  The  route  lay 
through  Lawrence.  "If  the  people  of  Lawrence," 
said  Preston,  "  attempt  a  rescue,  of  which  I  hear 
rumors,  the  escort  will  shoot  you  on  the  spot." 
This  communication  was  not  kindly  received. 
"Well,"  the  Colonel  replied,  "such  are  my  or- 
ders." Governor  Shannon,  apprehending  trouble, 
stopped  the  party  at  Franklin,  and  ordered  it  back 
to  Kansas  City.  From  that  point  the  party  pro- 
ceeded up  the  river  to  Leavenworth,  which  was 
reached  Saturday,  May  24th.  The  prisoner  expe- 
rienced no  special  ill-usage  in  Leavenworth  until 
Monday,  the  26th,  when  there  was  a  tremendous 
ferment.  During  the  day  newspaper  extras  ar- 
rived containing  reports  of  free-state  outrages  on 
the  Pottawatomie  —  reports  that  pro-slavery  set- 
tlers in  that  region  had  been  dragged  from  their 
cabins  at  dead  of  night  and  butchered.  The  news 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  117 

quickly  called  together  an  excited,  angry,  desper- 
ate crowd.  A  proposition  to  retaliate  by  mobbing 
the  free-state  governor  roused  general  and  bois- 
terous enthusiasm.  Thomas  H.  Gladstone,  corre- 
spondent of  the  London  "  Times,"  and  author  of 
"  Kansas  ;  or,  Squatter  Life  and  Border  Warfare 
in  the  Far  West,"  mingled  among  the  rioters  and 
caught  some  of  their  talk :  "  Let  us  get  hold  of 
him  ;  if  we  don't  sarve  him  out  powerful  quick. 
The  hangin'  bone  villain,  he  may  say  his  prayers 
mighty  smart  now.  I  '11  be  dog-gauned  if  we  don't 
string  him  up  afore  the  day  's  out.  Hangin  's  a 
nation  sight  too  good  for  him,  the  mean  cuss.  He 
ought  to  have  been  shot  through  the  head  right 
away  —  that's  how  I'd  sarve  him."  A  Mis- 
sourian  —  an  old  California  acquaintance  whose 
life  Robinson  had  saved  years  before  by  timely 
medical  service  in  a  cholera  panic  —  called  toward 
evening.  He  seemed  very  much  affected,  and 
did  not  speak  for  some  minutes.  "You  once  did 
me  a  good  turn,"  he  finally  managed  to  say,  "  and 
I  've  been  trying  to  repay  it  all  day.  The  boys 
have  decided  to  kill  you.  I  've  done  everything 
in  my  power  to  quiet  them,  but  it 's  no  use.  I 
thought  I  'd  come  and  tell  you  about  it."  Only 
by  the  greatest  exertion  did  the  authorities  suc- 
ceed in  defeating  the  plans  of  the  lynchers.  The 
chief  justice  of  the  territory,  whose  discourse  on 
treason  before  a  grand  jury  initiated  the  whole 
movement,  a  major-general  of  militia,  and  a 


118  KANSAS. 

United  States  marshal  stood  guard,  over  the  pris- 
oner during  the  night  and  saw  him  on  the  way 
to  Lecornpton  early  in  the  morning  before  the 
town  was  astir. 

The  grand  jury  of  Douglas  County  wrought 
great  havoc  among  free  -  state  leaders  —  Reeder 
fleeing  in  the  disguise  of  a  wood-chopper,  Rob- 
inson a  prisoner,  Lane  out  of  the  territory,  and 
other  men,  to  whom  the  public  confidence  had 
been  given,  soon  to  be  successfully  hunted  down. 
But  this  triumphant  grand  jury  had  not  yet  run 
its  course.  It  found  bills  of  indictment  against 
two  newspapers  of  Lawrence  —  the  "  Herald  of 
Freedom"  and  the  "  Kansas  Free  State  "  —  whose 
inflammatory  and  seditious  language  overpassed 
the  limits  of  sufferance,  and  against  the  principal 
hotel  of  that  town,  which  some  extraordinary  ob- 
liquity of  vision  transformed  into  a  military  for- 
tress, "  regularly  parapeted  and  port-holed  for  the 
use  of  cannon  and  small  arms." 

Well  aware  that  the  business  in  hand  could  not 
be  accomplished  unless  aided  by  a  military  force, 
Marshal  Donaldson  issued  a  proclamation  calling 
upon  law-abiding  citizens  to  rally  at  Lecompton 
for  his  assistance.  It  was  time  to  cease  dawdling. 
Lawrence,  that  "  foul  blot  on  the  soil  of  Kansas," 
must  be  humiliated  ;  her  newspaper  press,  wag- 
ging its  tongue  most  vilely,  silenced ;  her  battle- 
meuted  stone  hotel,  headquarters  of  abolitionism 
and  property  of  the  infamous  Emigrant  Aid  Com- 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  119 

pany,  demolished,  and  any  skulking  and  uncaged 
remnant  of  traitors  that  were  harbored  in  the  town 
seized  or  scared  out  of  the  territory.  Marshal 
Donaldson's  proclamation,  circulated  for  the  most 
part  in  three  or  four  pro-slavery  towns  of  the  ter- 
ritory, and  in  the  border  counties  across  the  river, 
precipitated  a  large  armed  multitude  toward  the 
rendezvous  at  Lecompton  —  wild,  hectic,  mischief- 
meaning  gangs,  men  cultivating  the  proprieties 
more  or  less  in  Missouri,  but  relapsing  into  a  state 
of  semi-barbarism  when  they  touched  the  soil  of 
Kansas.  Governor  Shannon  was  not  at  ease  over 
the  matter.  "  Had  the  marshal  called  on  me  for 
a  posse,"  he  wrote  President  Pierce,  "  I  should 
have  felt  bound  to  furnish  him  one  composed  en- 
tirely of  United  States  troops."  President  Pierce 
also  was  in  a  disquieted  frame  of  mind.  "  My 
knowledge  of  facts  is  imperfect,"  he  wrote  Shan- 
non May  23d,  "but  with  the  force  of  Colonel 
Sumner  at  hand  I  perceive  no  occasion  for  the 
posse,  armed  or  unarmed,  which  the  marshal  is 
said  to  have  assembled  at  Lecompton." 

Lawrence  took  apprehensive  note  of  the  hostile 
preparations  and  resorted,  as  during  earlier  trou- 
bles, to  a  committee  of  safety.  Great  confusion 
prevailed.  None  of  the  old  leaders  were  on  the 
ground,  and  new  ones  had  not  yet  won  their  spurs. 
After  many  conferences  and  discussions  the  com- 
mittee decided  to  temporize,  to  expostulate,  to 
manuoevre  —  in  a  word,  to  do  anything  except 


120  KANSAS. 

fight.  This  unwarlike  diplomacy,  though  not  par- 
ticularly soul -inspiring,  was  doubtless  politic. 
When  Donaldson's  proclamation  reached  Law- 
rence, the  citizens  held  a  public  meeting  and  pro- 
nounced the  charges  of  insubordination  and  dis- 
loyalty contained  in  it  unqualifiedly  false.  They 
sent  messages,  expostulations,  appeals  to  Lecomp- 
ton  in  swift,  nervous  succession.  Nothing  of 
overture  and  concession  did  they  leave  untried. 
"  We  only  await  an  opportunity,"  pleaded  these 
unappreciated  and  despondent  patriots,  "to  test 
our  fidelity  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  Union."  Deprecatory  and  ex- 
culpating talk  fell  unheeded.  No  humilities  of 
concession  could  divert  the  invaders  from  their 
prey. 

Discomforts  and  perils  thickened.  May  19th  a 
detachment  of  the  marshal's  posse  shot  a  young 
man  —  mainly  for  the  sensation  and  satisfaction 
of  killing  an  abolitionist.  Three  adventurous  fel- 
lows, presumably  intoxicated,  on  hearing  the  news, 
snatched  their  weapons,  dashed  out  of  Lawrence 
to  hunt  the  scoundrels,  and  began  a  fusillade  upon 
the  first  travelers  they  encountered  without  any 
nice  preliminary  investigations.  The  expedition 
turned  out  unfortunately  for  the  assailants.  An- 
other abolitionist  was  converted  into  "wolf-meat." 

Tuesday,  May  20th,  was  a  day  of  quiet.  Little 
of  the  stir  and  confusion  that  naturally  belong  to 
military  operations  appeared.  Citizens  of  Law- 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  121 

rence  began  to  take  heart,  and  to  conjecture  that 
the  peril  might  have  been  exaggerated.  But 
Wednesday  morning  they  were  undeceived.  At 
an  early  hour  a  troop  of  horsemen  quietly  took 
possession  of  the  bluffs  west  of  town.  Reinforce- 
ments gradually  swelled  the  numbers  during  the 
morning  until  they  reached  several  hundreds.  It 
was  a  representative  gathering  —  including  the 
principal  pro-slavery  leaders,  with  Atchison  at 
their  head,  the  recent  recruits  from  South  Caro- 
lina and  other  states,  the  usual  delegations  of 
Missourians,  and  a  sprinkling  of  actual  residents 
in  the  territory. 

The  town  lay  in  Sabbatic  repose  at  the  foot  of 
the  bluff.  When  it  was  definitely  settled  that 
there  should  be  no  resistance,  most  of  the  arms- 
bearing  population  whisked  away  like  sea-birds 
blown  landward  by  a  tempest.  The  committee 
of  safety  instructed  citizens  who  remained  in  town 
to  ignore  with  lofty  unconcern  the  whole  noxious 
brood  of  marshals,  sheriffs,  and  posses,  and  to  go 
about  their  affairs  as  usual.  Fearing  that  the  un- 
natural quietude  might  hide  some  ambush,  Atchi- 
son dispatched  runners  from  the  bluff  to  recon- 
noitre. They  reported  that  the  cowardly  Yankees 
would  not  fight  —  a  disposition  that  radically  sim- 
plified the  business  of  writ-service. 

At  eleven  o'clock  Deputy  Marshal  Fain,  attended 
by  an  escort  of  six  coatless  men  with  revolvers 
belted  about  them,  walked  down  into  the  village 


122  KANSAS. 

and  arrested  three  men  whose  names  were  on  the 
treason-list.  Never  were  fewer  obstacles  thrown 
in  the  path  of  an  officer.  The  alleged  traitors,  if 
they  did  not  actually  present  themselves  for  ar- 
rest, conformed  to  the  meekest  and  most  inoffen- 
sive models  of  behavior.  What  is  more,  the  com- 
mittee of  safety  handed  the  deputy  marshal  a 
note  addressed  to  Donaldson,  in  which  they  vir- 
tually abandoned  everything  for  which  free-state 
men  contended,  and  whipped  over  upon  out  and 
out  law  and  order  ground.  But  this  last  and  un- 
reserved concession  availed  as  little  as  those  which 
preceded  it. 

After  Deputy  Marshal  Fain's  peaceable  and 
easy  success  in  making  arrests,  pro-slavery  leaders 
—  Atchison,  Jones,  Donaldson,  General  Richard- 
son, of  the  territorial  militia,  Colonel  Titus,  of 
Florida,  Major  Jackson,  of  Georgia,  and  others  — 
ventured  from  the  bluffs  and  rode  about  town  on 
a  tour  of  observation.  S.  W.  Eldridge,  proprietor 
of  the  hotel,  so  ill-reputed  in  pro-slavery  quarters, 
politely  asked  the  strolling  gentry  to  dine,  and 
they  cheerfully  accepted  the  invitation.  But  even 
a  good  dinner,  and  that  without  charge,  carried  no 
more  influence  as  a  town-saver  than  the  surren- 
dering protocols. 

The  afternoon  presented  a  more  exciting  scene. 
With  the  successful  bagging  of  traitors,  the  primal 
and  technical  duties  of  the  escort  were  concluded. 
But  the  nuisances  were  not  yet  abated.  Marshal 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  123 

Donaldson  and  his  advisers,  though  some  of  them 
belonged  to  the  legal  fraternity,  reposed  an  aston- 
ishing confidence  in  the  virtues  and  prerogatives 
of  the  famous  grand  jury  of  Douglas  County. 
Scorning  such  intermediate  steps  as  citations, 
hearings,  opportunities  for  explanation  or  defense, 
and  the  like,  they  wrecked  a  hotel  and  threw  two 
printing-presses  into  the  river,  upon  the  authority 
of  a  bare  grand  jury  presentation.  "  That  pre- 
sentment," said  Judge  Lecompte  in  a  letter,  Au- 
gust 1st,  1856,  to  Hon.  J.  A.  Stewart,  of  Mary- 
land, "  still  lies  in  court.  No  time  for  action  on 
it  existed  —  none  has  been  had  —  no  order  passed 
—  nothing  done,  and  nothing  ever  dreamed  of 
being  done,  because  nothing  could  rightly  be  done 
but  upon  the  finding  of  a  petit  jury." 

But  let  the  posse  give  attention.  A  crier  is 
riding  about  among  the  men  shouting  —  "I  am 
authorized  to  say  that  the  marshal  has  no  fur- 
ther use  for  you ;  thanks  you  for  the  manner  in 
which  you  have  discharged  your  duties  ;  asks  you 
to  make  out  a  statement  of  the  number  of  days  of 
service  with  affidavit  and  you  shall  be  paid.  Now, 
gentlemen,  I  summons  you  as  the  posse  of  Sheriff 
Jones.  He  is  a  law  and  order  man,  and  acts  un- 
der the  same  authority  as  the  marshal." 

Jones,  scarcely  recovered  from  his  wound,  was 
received  with  applause.  The  situation  pleased 
him  well,  much  better  than  it  did  Atchison,  who 
thundered  indeed,  during  the  months  of  prepara- 


124  KANSAS. 

tion,  against  the  Yankees  with  fuli  throated  ora- 
tory —  outdone  in  verbal  savageness  only  by  the 
junior  editor  of  the  "  Squatter  Sovereign,"  a  mod- 
ern Herod,  who  swore  that  he  was  prepared  "  to 
kill  a  baby  if  he  knew  it  would  grow  up  an  ab- 
olitionist." But  now,  in  the  presence  of  opportu- 
nities for  transmuting  words  into  deeds,  Atchison 
urged  moderation.  "  I  made  several  speeches,  at 
least  half  a  dozen,"  he  said,  in  an  account  of  the 
affair  October,  1884,  "  riding  horseback,  to  the  dif- 
ferent companies.  I  spoke  in  the  interest  of  peace 
—  exerting  myself  to  check,  not  to  incite,  outrage. 
It  was  not  my  wish  that  the  hotel  should  be  de- 
stroyed. I  urged  Jones  to  spare  it.  I  told  him 
that  it  would  satisfy  the  ends  of  justice  if  he 
should  throw  a  cannon-ball  through  it  and  there 
let  the  matter  rest.  But  Jones  was  bent  on  mis- 
chief, and  I  could  do  nothing  with  him."  The 
"  Squatter  Sovereign  "  of  June  24th,  1856,  de- 
nounces current  free -state  versions  of  Atchi- 
son's  talk  as  false,  and  gives  what  it  alleges  to  be 
a  trustworthy  text.  "  He  exhorted  the  men 
above  everything  to  remember  that  they  were 
marching  to  enforce,  not  to  violate,  laws ;  to  sup- 
press, and  not  to  spread,  outrage  and  violence." 
Nor  was  Atchison  alone  in  deprecating  excesses. 
On  the  day  after  the  destruction  of  the  town,  nine 
citizens  of  Lawrence  met  in  Lane's  cabin  and 
drew  up  a  memorial  to  President  Pierce,  denounc- 
ing the  territorial  officials  as  a  set  of  men  who 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  125 

"  attempt  the  administration  of  law  on  principles 
of  perjury  and  brigandage,  .  .  .  utterly  ignoring 
the  oaths  they  have  taken,  ...  at  will  despoiling 
men  of  their  property  and  lives."  These  nine 
sharp-tongued  citizens  wish  to  put  on  record  the 
fact  that  many  "  captains  of  the  invading  com- 
panies exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  for  the 
protection  of  life  and  property.  Some  of  them 
.  .  .  endeavored  to  dissuade  Samuel  J.  Jones  from 
[his  fell  designs].  .  .  .  Colonel  Zadock  Jackson, 
of  Georgia,  did  not  scruple  to  denounce  either  in 
his  own  camp  or  in  Lawrence  the  outrages.  .  .  . 
Colonel  Buford,  of  Alabama,  also  disclaimed  hav- 
ing come  to  Kansas  to  destroy  property."  But 
the  immitigable  Jones  successfully  faced  down  all 
pacific  talk. 

It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  the 
great  posse  marched  down  from  its  camp,  drag- 
ging along  five  pieces  of  artillery,  and  began 
slowly  to  feel  its  way  up  Massachusetts  Street  — 
a  main  thoroughfare  of  the  town.  The  caution 
and  deliberation  of  the  movement  indicated  fear 
that  a  hidden  enemy  might  suddenly  dash  out  from 
the  cabins,  or  deliver  an  unexpected  volley  from 
behind  the  still  extant  earth-works  built  during 
the  Wakarusa  war.  Banners  this  host  bore  with 
various  devices  —  "South  Carolina,"  "Southern 
rights,"  "Superiority  of  the  white  race,"  "Kan- 
sas the  outpost."  One  flag  was  alternately  striped 
in  black  and  white  ;  another  had  the  national 


126  KANSAS. 

stripes  with  a  tiger  in  place  of  the  -union.  But 
no  ambushing  enemy  sprang  upon  the  wary  war- 
riors. When  the  last  rifle-pits  were  reached,  and 
all  visions  of  peril  vanished  like  smoke-wreaths 
into  the  air,  a  yell  of  triumph  burst  from  the 
ranks.  It  was  now  straightforward,  innoxious, 
larkish  business.  The  posse  made  short  work  of 
the  printing-offices  —  breaking  up  presses,  rioting 
calamitously  among  files,  type,  stock,  exchanges ; 
hurling  the  ruins  into  the  street,  or  dumping 
them  into  the  river.  Here  assuredly  was  a  legi- 
ble lesson  which  impudent  newspapers  that  railed 
against  territorial  laws  and  spoke  disrespectfully 
of  slavery  might  profitably  lay  to  heart. 

The  stone  hotel  required  more  elaborate  and 
painstaking  attention.  Jones  rode  up  in  front  of 
it,  called  for  S.  C.  Pomeroy,  a  representative  of 
the  Emigrant  Aid  Company,  and  as  "  deputy 
marshal  of  the  United  States  and  sheriff  of  Doug- 
las County  "  demanded  possession  of  all  Sharpe's 
rifles  and  all  artillery  in  town.  Pomeroy,  after 
an  expeditious  and  fugitive  consultation  with  the 
committee  of  safety,  replied  that  the  rifles  were 
private  property,  and  therefore  beyond  his  con- 
trol, but  that  a  cannon  had  been  secreted  there- 
abouts which  would  be  turned  over  to  him.  The 
concession  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  of  Pomeroy 's 
consenting  to  act  as  guide  to  the  surreptitious 
arsenal.  Such  service  ought  to  have  put  him  on 
good  terms  with  the  champions  of  law  and  order, 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  127 

but  the  ingrates,  so  far  from  appreciating  his  ex- 
ertions, had  the  heartlessness  to  discuss,  though 
probably  with  no  very  serious  intent,  the  question 
of  hanging  him. 

Jones  directed  the  hotel  to  be  emptied  of  furni- 
ture, but  his  order  was  only  partially  carried  out. 
The  five  pieces  of  artillery  bristled  in  a  row  just 
across  the  street,  and  opened  fire  upon  the  nui- 
s*ance  that  had  sinned  so  grievously  and  unforgiva- 
bly against  the  public  safety.  "  I  counted  thirty 
shots,"  said  an  on-looker.  The  cannonade  inflicted 
trifling  damage  in  the  porous  concrete  walls,  and 
a  swifter  method  of  destruction  was  sought  out. 
If  the  building  could  not  readily  be  battered 
down,  certainly  it  could  be  blown  to  pieces.  A 
keg  of  gunpowder  was  carried  into  the  parlor  and 
a  slow-match  of  bepowdered  lard  prepared.  Fu- 
riously did  the  train  hiss  and  sizzle  and  splutter, 
emitting  great  volumes  of  smoke,  and  promising  a 
hideous  climax  of  devastation ;  but  the  explosion, 
which  reminded  the  spectator,  who  counted  the 
artillery  discharges,  of  "  a  blast  down  in  a  well," 
accomplished  little  beyond  breaking  a  few  panes 
of  glass.  In  the  discomfiture  of  more  pretentious 
appliances  of  destruction,  an  elemental  and  prim- 
itive leveler  remained,  to  which  there  was  suc- 
cessful resort  —  the  torch.  The  sons  of  law  and 
order  victoriously  fired  the  hotel,  but  not  until 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  liquor  cellar. 
Researches  in  that  quarter  may  have  been  in  some 


128  KANSAS. 

degree  responsible  for  the  turbulence  with  which 
the  nuisance-abating  concluded.  Stores  were  pil- 
laged, houses  rummaged,  and  Governor  Robin- 
son's residence  was  burnt  to  the  ground.  Nothing 
escaped  the  curious  and  inquisitive  marauders  — 
neither  trunks,  drawers,  cupboards,  nor  clothes- 
presses.  More  than  one  seedy  wardrobe  was  re- 
fitted out  of  the  spoils.  Gladstone  encountered 
some  of  the  ruffians  at  Kansas  City  on  their  re- 
turn, and  remarked  a  "  grotesque  intermixture  in 
their  dress,  having  crossed  their  native  red  shirt 
with  a  satin  vest  or  narrow  dress -coat  pillaged 
from  some  Lawrence  Yankee,  or  having  girded 
themselves  with  the  cords  and  tassels  which  the 
day  before  had  ornamented  the  curtains  of  the 
free-state  hotel." 

While  these  calamities  were  overtaking  the 
territory  a  startling  pro -slavery  denouement  oc- 
curred in  Washington.  Charles  Sumner  began 
his  speech  on  "  The  Crime  against  Kansas  "  May 
19th,  which  he  concluded  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
20th,  when  the  posse  of  Marshal  Donaldson  was 
tightening  its  coils  about  Lawrence.  The  speech, 
a  brilliant,  indignant,  unmeasured,  exasperating 
philippic  against  the  course  of  the  slave-power  in 
Kansas,  raised  a  violent  and  angry  excitement. 
General  Cass  pronounced  it  "  the  most  un-Ameri- 
can and  unpatriotic  speech  that  ever  grated  on 
the  ears  "  of  Congress.  "  He  has  not  hesitated 
to  charge  more  than  three  fourths  of  the  Senate 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  129 

with  fraud,  with  swindling,  with  crime,  with  in- 
famy, at  least  a  hundred  times  over  in  his  speech," 
roared  Douglas ;  "  is  it  his  object  to  provoke 
some  one  of  us  to  kick  him  as  we  would  a  dog  in 
the  street,  that  he  may  get  sympathy  upon  the 
just  chastisement  ?  "  Mason,  of  Virginia,  lamented 
that  public  interests  and  usage  forced  association 
in  the  Senate  Chamber  with  "  one  utterly  incapa- 
ble of  knowing  what  truth  is  "  —  with  "  one  whom 
to  see  elsewhere  is  to  shun  and  despise." 

Preston  S.  Brooks,  representative  from  South 
Carolina,  reduced  to  practice  Douglas's  suggestion. 
After  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  May  22d, 
while  Sumner  remained  writing  at  his  desk,  Brooks 
approached,  muttered  out  charges  of  libeling 
South  Carolina  and  her  sons,  and  followed  them 
up  by  repeated  blows  on  the  head  with  a  cane. 
The  senator  fell  insensible  to  the  floor.  This 
affair  was  a  fit  companion  piece  to  the  destruction 
of  Lawrence. 

When  one  more  blow  should  be  delivered  — 
the  dispersal  of  the  free-state  legislature,  which 
was  to  meet  at  Topeka  on  the  4th  of  July  —  would 
not  the  pro-slavery  triumph  be  complete  ?  On 
whom  should  be  conferred  the  honor  of  adminis- 
tering a  coup  de  grdce  to  abolitionism  in  Kansas 
was  a  matter  of  debate.  The  patriots  who  distin- 
guished themselves  in  May  were  anxious  to  take 
the  field  again  in  July.  A  hum  of  preparation 
ran  along  the  border,  Buford  and  the  Southern 
9 


130  KANSAS. 

colonels  put  their  men  into  training,  but  the  au- 
thorities in  Washington  began  audibly  to  demur. 
The  suspicions  and  fears  of  President  Pierce  ri- 
pened into  convictions ;  he  did  not  wish  to  have 
any  more  armed  mobs  convoked  to  enforce  the 
laws.  It  was  settled  that  federal  troops  should 
furnish  whatever  assistance  territorial  officers 
might  need  in  their  dealings  with  the  pin-feather 
state  government.  These  functionaries  concurred 
in  advising  a  semi-heroic  treatment  as  the  mildest 
recommendable  course.  Governor  Shannon,  tem- 
porarily out  of  the  territory,  wrote  Colonel  Sum- 
ner  to  disperse  the  legislature,  should  it  assemble 
—  "  peaceably  if  you  can,  forcibly  if  you  must." 
Sumner,  though  friendly  to  free-state  interests, 
disapproved  the  Topeka  movement.  "  I  am  de- 
cidedly of  opinion,"  he  wrote  Acting  -  governor 
Woodson  June  28th,  "  that  that  body  of  men 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  assemble.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  peace  of  the  country  de- 
pends upon  it."  June  30th  Woodson  wrote  Sum- 
ner in  an  apprehensive  strain.  "  There  is  now  no 
ground  to  doubt,"  he  said,  "  that  the  bogus  legis- 
lature will  attempt  to  convene  on  the  4th  proximo 
at  Topeka,  and  the  most  extensive  preparations 
are  being  made  for  the  occasion.  The  country  in 
the  vicinity  of  Topeka  is  represented  to  be  filled 
with  strangers,  who  are  making  their  way  toward 
that  point  from  all  directions.  Last  evening  I 
received  information  .  .  .  that  General  Lane  was 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  131 

on  his  way  to  Topeka  with  a  very  large  force,  and 
was  then  somewhere  between  that  place  and  the 
Nebraska  line.  ...  It  is  deemed  important  that 
you  should  be  at  Topeka  in  person.  .  .  .  Judge 
Cato  will  be  on  the  ground,  and  I  have  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  United  States  district  attorney, 
Colonel  Isaacs,  requesting  him  to  come  over  at 
once  and  attend  in  person  to  getting  out  the 
necessary  legal  processes."  Colonel  Sumner  left 
Leavenworth  for  Topeka  July  1st,  where  he  con- 
centrated five  companies  of  dragoons  with  two 
pieces  of  artillery.  "I  shall  act  very  warily," 
he  wrote  the  adjutant  general,  "  and  shall  require 
the  civil  authorities  to  take  the  lead  in  the  matter 
throughout." 

The  bustle  of  hostile  preparations  in  federal 
camps  and  in  Missouri,  as  well  as  among  terri- 
torial officials,  had  a  discouraging  and  unbracing 
influence  upon  members  of  the  state  legislature. 
Unless  a  tonic  of  some  kind  could  be  adminis- 
tered, many  of  them  might  fail  to  appear  in  To- 
peka on  the  4th  of  July,  and  the  whole  anti-slav- 
ery movement  come  to  an  inglorious  collapse.  To 
keep  up  courage,  to  secure  a  general  interchange 
and  discussion  of  opinion,  a  curious  double-headed 
conference  began  in  Topeka  on  the  3d  —  an  extra 
and  informal  session  of  the  legislature  and  a  nu- 
merously attended  mass-convention.  Both  legis- 
lature and  convention  wrestled  with  the  same 
perplexing  question  —  What  ought  to  be  done  in 


132  KANSAS. 

the  present  emergency?  No  formal  and  accred- 
ited policy  emerged  from  the  babel  of  discordant 
sentiments.  Some  members  of  these  bodies  urged 
that  the  state  legislature  should  meet  and  proceed 
with  business  until  dispersed  by  the  federal  au- 
thorities ;  others  denounced  further  resistance  to 
the  territorial  laws  as  a  blunder,  and  counseled 
immediate  submission.  Governor  Robinson  and 
the  free-state  prisoners  confined  at  Lecompton  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  legislature,  deprecating  the 
adoption  of  any  timorous,  faint-hearted  policy. 
That  in  the  disjointed  condition  of  affairs  there 
might  be  some  recognized  authority,  the  mass- 
convention  appointed  a  "  Kansas  Central  State 
Committee,"  thirteen  in  number,  and  authorized 
it  "  to  assume  the  management  and  control  of  the 
free -state  party  of  Kansas."  The  general  com- 
mittee chose  an  executive  committee  of  five :  J. 
P.  Root,  president ;  H.  Miles  Moore,  secretary ; 
James  Blood,  William  Hutchinson,  and  S.  E. 
Martin. 

Colonel  Sumner,  on  reaching  Topeka,  opened 
communications  at  once  with  free-state  men.  He 
sent  for  Captain  Samuel  Walker  —  a  personal 
friend  and  a  member  of  the  legislature.  "  I  hear 
Lane  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,"  said  Sum- 
ner, "  and  means  to  fight.  How  is  that  ?  "  "  There 
is  n't  a  word  of  truth  in  the  story.  Lane  is  not 
in  the  territory.  He  is  somewhere  in  the  East 
making  speeches."  Marshal  Donaldson,  who  was 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  133 

present,  listened  to  the  conversation  with  interest. 
"If  I  should  get  up  before  those  legislative  fel- 
lows," he  inquired,  "  to  read  a  proclamation, 
would  n't  some  devil  shoot  at  me  ?  "  "  Nobody," 
said  Walker,  "  will  lift  a  finger  against  you." 

The  convention  sent  a  committee  to  confer  with 
Colonel  Sumner.  He  was  very  anxious  that  the 
legislature  should  not  meet  at  all,  as  he  wished 
to  escape  the  odium  of  coercive  measures.  That 
point  the  committee  refused  to  yield.  An  under- 
standing, however,  was  reached  that  the  legisla- 
ture should  assemble  and  begin  to  organize,  but 
quietly  disperse  at  the  command  of  the  federal 
authorities. 

The  4th  of  July  found  Topeka  thronged  with 
men,  women,  and  children.  Two  free-state  mili- 
tary companies  were  also  in  town.  A  nervous, 
wistful,  depressed  sentiment  prevailed,  as  people 
at  large  were  not  in  the  secret  of  the  cut-and- 
dried  programme.  The  mass-convention,  think- 
ing its  mission  not  yet  fully  accomplished,  fearing 
that  at  the  last  moment  a  panic  might  seize  upon 
the  legislature  and  prevent  it  from  assembling, 
resumed  its  sessions  in  the  morning  and  fell  lus- 
tily to  work. 

During  the  forenoon  Marshal  Donaldson,  accom- 
panied by  Judge  Rush  Elmore,  associate  justice 
of  the  territory,  sallied  forth  with  a  batch  of  of- 
ficial documents  :  President  Pierce 's  proclama- 
tion of  February  llth,  which  commanded  "  all 


134  KANSAS. 

persons  engaged  in  unlawful  combinations  against 
the  constituted  authority  of  the  territory  of  Kan- 
sas ...  to  disperse  ;  "  Governor  Shannon's  proc- 
lamation of  June  4th  ;  a  proclamation  fresh  from 
Acting  -  governor  Woodson's  own  hand,  forbid- 
ding "  persons  claiming  legislative  powers  and  au- 
thorities," on  the  point  of  assembling  in  Topeka, 
to  organize  "  under  the  penalties  attached  to  all 
willful  violators  of  the  laws  of  the  land ; "  and 
finally  a  proclamation  from  Colonel  Sumner,  who 
announced  that  he  should  "  sustain  the  executive 
of  the  territory." 

Mistaking  the  mass-convention,  gasconading  in 
the  streets,  for  the  legislature,  Marshal  Donaldson 
informed  the  presiding  officer  that  he  had  commu- 
nications for  the  assembly.  The  marshal  declined 
to  risk  so  doubtful  an  experiment  as  reading  aloud 
in  public,  and  asked  Judge  Elmore  to  take  his 
place.  Donaldson  retired  with  confusion  of  face 
when  he  discovered  that  he  had  pitched  his  bomb- 
shells into  the  wrong  camp. 

As  the  hour  of  twelve,  when  the  legislature  was 
to  meet,  approached,  the  dragoons,  encamped  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  town,  formed  in  order  of  bat- 
tle, dashed  toward  Constitutional  Hall  and  sur- 
rounded it,  while  the  two  pieces  of  artillery,  with 
gunners  at  their  posts  and  slow-matches  burning, 
commanded  the  principal  street. 

It  lacked  a  few  minutes  of  noon  when  Colonel 
Sumner  entered  the  House  of  Representatives. 


SOME  HEAVY  BLOWS.  135 

Roll-call  soon  began,  but  no  quorum  was  present ; 
or,  rather,  a  majority  of  the  members,  not  under- 
standing that  the  perils  which  seemed  so  formi- 
dable were  of  a  pasteboard  sort,  did  not  answer  to 
their  names.  After  some  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  sergeant-at-arms  there  was  a  second  reading  of 
the  membership  list.  Only  seventeen  responded. 
Colonel  Sumner  then  rose  and  commanded  the 
legislature  to  disperse  —  a  duty  which  at  the  be- 
ginning and  at  the  close  of  his  brief  speech  he 
declared  to  be  the  most  painful  of  his  whole  life. 

This  4th  of  July  demonstration  was  accorded  a 
cold  reception  in  Washington.  Jefferson  Davis, 
secretary  of  war,  was  disturbed  by  the  affair.  "  I 
looked  upon  them  [the  members  of  the  state  leg- 
islature]," said  he,  "  as  men  assembled  without 
authority,  men  who  could  pass  no  law  that  should 
ever  be  put  in  execution,  and  that  the  crime  would 
be  in  attempting  to  put  the  law  in  execution,  and 
in  the  mean  time  they  might  be  considered  as  a 
mere  town  meeting."  Colonel  Sumner  did  not 
escape  official  displeasure  for  his  part  in  the  trans- 
action. In  defense  he  fell  back  upon  verbal  req- 
uisitions of  Acting-governor  Woodson,  who  "  was 
personally  present  in  my  camp  desiring  the  in- 
terposition of  the  troops." 

Missouri  leaders,  not  sharing  in  the  apprehen- 
sions of  reaction  that  troubled  the  administration, 
now  sunned  themselves  in  the  glow  of  victories 
apparently  decisive.  "  It  was  everywhere  antici- 


136  KANSAS. 

pated,"  in  the  words  of  an  address  issued  Janu- 
ary, 1857,  by  the  National  Democracy  of  Kansas, 
"  that  these  events  would  put  an  end  to  violence 
and  restore  the  country  to  law  and  order  and 
quiet."  But  these  anticipations  turned  out  to  be 
delusive.  Heavy  blows  had  indeed  been  struck, 
but  they  were  ill-advised,  misdirected  blows,  and 
recoiled  disastrously  upon  those  who  delivered 
them. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DUTCH  HENRY'S  CROSSING,  BLACK   JACK,  AND 
OSAWATOMTE. 

JOHN  BROWN  is  a  parenthesis  in  the  history 
of  Kansas.  The  immense  vibration  of  his  career 
upon  the  nation  had  its  source  in  the  Virginia 
campaign  and  its  ill-fated  but  heroic  sequel,  rather 
than  in  contributions  to  the  territorial  struggle. 
His  course  there  —  at  war  with  the  policy  which 
finally  defeated  the  slave  power  and  saved  Kansas 
from  its  clutch,  pitched  to  the  strain  of  revolution, 
tending  to  inaugurate  a  conflict  of  arms  on  the 
border  —  would  never  have  given  wing  to  his  re- 
nown. 

Born  in  Torrington,  Connecticut,  May  9th, 
1800,  and  descended  from  substantial  Puritan  an- 
cestors, John  Brown  had  a  youth  and  boyhood  full 
of  hardships  and  privations.  He  pursued  differ- 
ent vocations  —  was  successively  tanner,  wool-mer- 
chant, and  farmer  —  but  won  no  great  success  in 
any  of  these  callings.  Other  interests  absorbed 
him. 

"  From  childhood  I  have  been  possessed 
By  a  fire  —  by  a  true  fire,  or  faint  or  fierce." 


138  KANSAS. 

That  fire  was  a  consuming  sentiment  of  anti-slav- 
ery passion. 

John  Brown  reached  Kansas  in  the  autumn  of 
1855.  He  came  in  response  to  appeals  for  arms 
from  his  sons,  five  of  whom  preceded  him  to  the 
territory  and  settled  at  Osawatomie.  He  found 
them  in  circumstances  sufficiently  uncomfortable : 
"  no  houses  to  shelter  one  of  them ;  no  hay  or 
corn-fodder  of  any  account  secured;  shivering 
over  their  little  fires,  all  exposed  to  the  dreadfully 
cutting  winds  morning  and  evening  and  stormy 
days." 

It  was  not  the  purpose  to  make  a  home  for  him- 
self in  Kansas,  nor  to  aid  his  sons  in  their  wilder- 
ness-struggle, that  brought  John  Brown  to  the  tei%- 
ritory,  but  the  conviction  that  opportunity,  long 
deferred,  had  at  last  offered  for  a  blow  at  the  slave 
system. 

"  'T  is  time 

New  hopes  should  animate  the  world,  new  light 
Should  dawn  from  new  revealings  to  a  race 
Weighed  down  so  long." 

Such  were  the  inspirations  that  dictated  an  im- 
mediate and  personal  response  to  the  western  sig- 
nal of  distress.  Whatever  else  may  be  laid  to  his 
charge  —  whatever  rashness,  unwisdom,  equivoca- 
tion, bloodiness  —  no  faintest  trace  of  self-seeking 
stains  his  Kansas  life.  In  behalf  of  the  cause 
which  fascinated  and  ruled  him  he  was  prepared 
to  sacrifice  its  enemies,  and  if  the  offering  proved 


DUTCH  HENRY'S  CROSSING.  139 

inadequate  to  sacrifice  himself.  He  belonged  to 
that  Hebraic,  Old  Testament,  iron  type  of  human- 
ity in  which  the  sentiment  of  justice  — narrowed 
to  warfare  upon  a  single  evil,  pursuing  it  with 
concentrated  and  infinite  hostility  as  if  it  epito- 
mized all  the  sinning  of  the  universe  —  assumed 
an  exaggerated  importance.  It  was  a  type  of 
humanity  to  which  the  lives  of  individual  men, 
weighed  against  the  interests  of  the  inexorable 
cause,  seem  light  and  trivial  as  the  dust  of  a  but- 
terfly's wing.  John  Brown  would  have  been  at 
home  among  the  armies  of  Israel  that  gave  the 
guilty  cities  of  Canaan  to  the  sword,  or  among  the 
veterans  of  Cromwell  who  ravaged  Ireland  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  When  the  "  Souldier's  Pocket 
Bible  "  —  a  collection  of  texts  which  lent  inspira- 
tion to  Cromwell's  veterans,  and  shows  the  "  qual- 
ifications of  his  inner  man  that  is  a  fit  Souldier  to 
fight  in  the  Lord's  Battels  both  before  he  fight,  in 
the  fight,  and  after  the  fight "  —  was  once  put  into 
his  hands  he  sat  down  and  read  it,  apparently  with 
the  most  intense  and  absorbing  interest.  There 
he  read,  "  Scriptures  .  .  .  fitly  applied  to  the  Soul- 
diers  several  occasions  "  —  read  that  the  soldier 
must  be  valiant  for  God's  cause,  must  put  his  con- 
fidence in  God's  wisdom  and  strength,  must  pray 
before  he  goes  to  fight,  must  love  his  enemies  as 
they  are  his  enemies,  and  hate  them  as  they  are 
God's  enemies,  and  must  consider  that  God  hath 
ever  been  accustomed  to  give  the  victory  to  a  few  ! 


140  KANSAS. 

That  such  a  man,  an  astray  and  out-of-season 
Puritan,  persuaded  that  God  had  called  him,  as 
prophets  and  priests  were  called  in  ancient  times, 
to  the  work  of  fighting  slavery,  his  policy  one 
seamless  garment  of  force  —  that  such  a  man 
should  stand  almost  alone  in  Kansas,  should  fail 
to  rally  any  large  following,  should  touch  the 
general  councils  and  activities  spasmodically,  in- 
cidentally, was  inevitable.  The  policy  of  free- 
state  leaders,  in  general  harmony  with  the  advice 
of  outside  friends,  shunned  violence  of  every  sort. 
It  especially  avoided  collision  with  the  federal  au- 
thorities. This  wise  policy  experienced  compara- 
tively few  lapses,  though  at  times  the  temptation 
to  abandon  it  was  very  strong.  John  Brown  dis- 
trusted peaceful  methods.  He  was  quite  as  ready 
to  fight  as  "  the  adventurous  young  men  from 
South  Carolina."  In  his  opinion  all  marauding 
rascals  from  Missouri  and  elsewhere  should  be 
asked  to  show  their  passports.  For  the  disorders 
of  the  territory  (mere  local  eruptions  of  a  chronic, 
deadly  national  malady,  the  cure  of  which  rather 
than  the  salvation  of  Kansas  haunted  him)  he 
had  one  sovereign  remedy  —  violence.  Gerrit 
Smith,  in  a  speech  before  the  Kansas  Convention 
at  Buffalo,  July  9th  and  10th,  1856,  gave  expres- 
sion to  sentiments  of  which  John  Brown  was  a 
strenuous,  uncompromising  exponent  on  the  bor- 
der. "  You  are  here,"  he  said,  "  looking  to  bal- 
lots when  you  should  be  looking  to  bayonets; 


DUTCH  HENRTS  CROSSING.  141 

counting  up  voters  when  you  should  be  muster- 
ing armed,  and  none  but  armed,  emigrants.  .  .  . 
They  [members  of  the  convention]  are  here  to 
save  Kansas.  .  .  .  But  I  am  here  to  promote  the 
killing  of  American  slavery." 

News  of  the  attack  upon  Lawrence  May  21st 
reached  Osawatomie  by  courier  during  the  day. 
Two  rifle  companies,  recently  organized  for  the 
defense  of  the  neighborhood,  and  numbering  fifty 
or  sixty  men,  hastily  mustered  under  command  of 
John  Brown,  Jr.,  and  began  a  forced  night  march 
toward  Lawrence.  John  Brown  accompanied  the 
expedition.  On  the  morning  of  the  22d  they 
halted  and  went  into  camp  near  Palmyra,  where 
they  were  joined  by  Captain  S.  T.  Shore  with  a 
number  of  armed  men,  who  informed  them  of  the 
destruction  of  Lawrence.  Here  they  remained 
until  the  23d,  when  they  moved  on  to  Palmyra. 
Two  days  later  Lieutenant  J.  R.  Church  with 
thirteen  men  reached  their  camp. 

"  I  came  upon  a  body  of  men  from  Osawatomie  and 
the  surrounding  country,"  the  lieutenant  reported,  "  who, 
as  well  as  I  could  judge,  numbered  some  seventy  or 
eighty,  although  they  pretended  to  have  about  a  hun- 
dred and  thirty.  This  body  was  commanded  by  a  Cap- 
tain Brown.  .  .  .  They  had  been  at  Palmyra  two  days, 
and  had  frightened  off  a  number  of  pro-slavery  settlers, 
and  forced  off,  as  far  as  I  could  learn,  two  families.  I 
immediately  stated  to  Captain  Brown  that  the  assembly 
of  large  parties  of  armed  men,  on  either  side,  was  illegal, 


142  KANSAS. 

and  called  upon  him  to  disperse.     After  considerable 
talk  he  consented  to  disband  his  party  and  return  home." 

Two  days  before  this  interview  with  Lieutenant 
Church,  disquieting  rumors  reached  camp  from 
Dutch  Henry's  Crossing.  H.  H.  Williams  arrived 
from  this  neighborhood  and  reported  that  pro- 
slavery  men,  in  the  absence  of  the  rifle  compa- 
nies, were  attempting  a  line  of  policy  which  Cap- 
tain John  Brown,  Jr.,  prosecuted  successfully  at 
Palmyra  —  the  expulsion  of  obnoxious  people. 
Border-ruffian  notifications  to  leave  the  country 
breezed  with  particular  violence  about  a  timid, 
nervous  old  shop-keeper,  by  the  name  of  Morse, 
who  supplied  the  riflemen  with  ammunition. 

Though  a  company  of  Buford's  men  had  pitched 
camp  not  far  away,  to  which  John  Brown  once 
paid  a  visit  of  espial  in  the  mask  of  a  federal 
surveyor;  though  the  Rev.  Martin  White,  a  de- 
vout, biblical,  rabid,  shot-gun  pro-slavery  divine, 
resided  in  the  neighborhood,  yet  no  serious  dis- 
turbances had  hitherto  broken  out  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Osawatomie,  or  Dutch  Henry's  Crossing 
—  nothing  worse  than  gusty,  sulphurous,  foul- 
mouthed  talk,  in  which  both  parties  were  remark- 
ably proficient. 

Williams's  narrative  caused  the  sudden  organi- 
zation of  a  secret  foray  into  the  troubled  district. 
Williams  represents  John  Brown,  who  had  joined 
the  group  of  listeners  gathered  about  him,  as  say- 
ing at  the  close  of  his  story,  "  It  is  time  to  stop 


DUTCH  HENRY'S  CROSSING.  143 

that  sort  of  thing.  It  has  gone  on  long  enough. 
I  '11  attend  to  those  fellows."  An  hour  or  two 
later  Williams  visited  a  shed  near  the  camp,  under 
which  stood  a  grindstone.  A  squad  of  men  were 
there  sharpening  their  cutlasses.  "  What 's  up  ?  " 
asked  Williams.  "  We  are  going  down  upon  the 
Pottawatomie  to  take  care  of  the  ruffians  who  are 
making  trouble  there,"  somebody  replied.  "  We 
are  going  down,"  added  John  Brown,  who  was 
watching  operations  with  interest,  "  to  make  an 
example.  Won't  you  go  ?  "  Williams  declined. 

The  expedition  was  a  meagre  affair  numerically. 
Seven  or  eight  men  comprised  the  entire  muster- 
roll.  They  were  all  members  of  John  Brown's 
household  with  two  exceptions  —  James  Townsley 
and  Theodore  Weiner.  Early  in  the  afternoon  of 
May  23d  the  raiders  —  bestowed  in  Townsley's 
farm- wagon,  except  Weiner,  who  rode  a  pony  — 
left  camp,  amid  a  round  of  cheers,  for  Dutch 
Henry's  Crossing.  Toward  sundown,  and  not  far 
from  his  destination,  Brown  met  James  Blood,  of 
Lawrence,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  dar- 
ing the  Wakarusa  war.  Brown  talked  for  a  few 
minutes.  His  habitual  reserve  relented  into  a 
nervous  impetuosity  of  speech.  The  sack  of  Law- 
rence and  denunciation  of  the  peace-policy  as  cow- 
ardly, ignoble,  ruinous  were  chief  matters  in  his 
discourse.  "  We  are  on  a  secret  mission  —  don't 
speak  of  meeting  us,"  said  the  old  man  as  the  lit- 
tle company  moved  on. 


144  KANSAS. 

At  night-fall  Brown  encamped  -m  a  gulched, 
wooded,  ledgy  tract  about  a  mile  north  of  Potta- 
watomie  Creek,  his  point  of  destination.  Towns- 
ley  states,  in  his  confessions,  that  it  was  not  until 
the  party  had  reached  this  lair  that  Brown  fully 
disclosed  to  him  the  mission  of  the  expedition. 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  enveloped  it  in  vague  and 
general  phrases  which  might  mean  much  or  little. 
Now  he  threw  aside  disguise,  and  announced  his 
purpose  to  sweep  off  all  pro-slavery  men  up  and 
down  the  Pottawatomie.  In  this  work  of  death 
Townsley,  familiar  with  the  region  and  its  popu- 
lation, should  act  as  guide.  Townsley  demurred. 
This  was  an  unexpected  hitch  which  gave  twenty- 
four  hours  more  of  life  to  five  unsuspecting  pro- 
slavery  squatters  on  the  Pottawatomie.  During 
the  interval  of  delay,  according  to  Townsley 's  re- 
port, Brown's  tongue  was  again  loosed,  and  he 
talked  at  large.  He  said  they  must  fall  upon  the 
enemy  with  such  remorseless  and  destructive  sur- 
prise as  would  overwhelm  them  with  terror.  Bor- 
der ruffians  in  the  service  of  slavery  were  worthy 
of  no  more  consideration  than  wolves  that  prey 
upon  the  farmer's  sheepfold.  Finally,  he  took 
refuge  in  the  stronghold  of  predestination :  "I 
have  no  choice.  It  has  been  decreed  by  Almighty 
God,  ordained  from  eternity,  that  I  should  make 
an  example  of  these  men."  Townsley,  whose  the- 
ological education  had  evidently  been  neglected, 
interrupted  the  discourse  at  one  point :  "  If  God 


DUTCH  HENRY'S   CROSSING.  145 

is  such  a  powerful  man  as  you  say,  why  does  n't 
he  attend  to  the  business  himself?  " 

Saturday  night,  May  24th,  the  blow  was  struck, 
the  example  made.  Brown  and  his  men  stole 
out  of  ambush  and  executed  pro-slavery  squat- 
ters whose  names  were  pricked.  A  compromise 
was  effected  by  abridging  the  death-list.  This 
concession  appears  to  have  allayed  Townsley's 
scruples.  At  the  first  cabin  where  the  raiders 
halted  and  knocked  there  was  no  response.  "  It 
seemed  to  be  empty,"  said  Townsley,  "  though  I 
thought  I  heard  somebody  cock  a  rifle  inside." 
Three  other  cabins  were  visited,  out  of  which  five 
men  were  dragged  to  sudden  death  in  the  name 
of  "the  Northern  army"  —  James  P.  Doyle  and 
his  sons  William  and  Drury,  Allan  Wilkinson, 
and  William  Sherman.  They  were  all  mortally 
hacked  and  slashed  with  cutlasses,  except  the 
elder  Doyle.  Through  his  forehead,  burned  and 
blackened  by  the  proximity  of  the  pistol,  there 
was  a  bullet-hole. 

It  was  a  misfortune  that  Howard  and  Sherman, 
Republican  members  of  the  congressional  investi- 
gating committee,  should  have  declined  to  explore 
this  ghastly  affair,  which  has  given  rise  to  so  much 
controversy.  That  refusal  enabled  the  pro-slav- 
ery leaders  to  charge  them  with  fear  of  facing  the 
record  of  anti-slavery  men  in  the  territory.  "  It 
[the  Pottawatomie  massacre]  revealed  on  the  part 
of  their  friends  such  a  picture  of  savage  ferocity 
10 


146  KANSAS. 

that  the  committee  for  once  blushed  and  stulti- 
fied themselves  rather  than  receive  the  testimony 
as  competent "  —  the  testimony  of  Wilkinson's 
widow  "lately  tendered  at  Westport."  There 
was,  however,  an  ex  parte  investigation  conducted 
by  Mr.  Oliver.  When  the  widows,  children,  and 
neighbors  of  the  slaughtered  men  gave  evidence, 
he  said  in  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives —  witnesses  "  whose  tears  in  testifying  were 
streaming  down  their  cheeks,"  "who  gave  the 
greatest  assurance  that  the  words  spoken  came 
truthfully  from  the  heart,  because  chastened  by 
the  hand  of  affliction  and  sorrow"  —  "my  blood 
ran  cold  at  the  recital."  Among  those  who  have 
denounced  the  raid  none  have  surpassed  Andrew 
Johnson  in  bitter,  unsparing,  execrative  words. 

"  Innocent,  unoffending  men,"  he  said  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  "  were  taken  out  [of  their  cabins], 
and  in  the  midnight  hour,  and  in  the  forest,  and  on  the 
roadside  fell  victims  to  the  insatiable  thirst  of  John 
Brown  for  blood.  Then  it  was  .  .  .  that  hell  entered 
into  his  heart  —  not  the  iron  into  his  soul.  Then  it  was 
that  he  shrank  from  the  dimensions  of  a  human  being 
into  those  of  a  reptile.  Then  it  was,  if  not  before,  that 
he  changed  his  character  to  a  demon  who  had  lost  all 
the  virtues  of  a  man !  " 

In  appraising  the  motives  which  underlay  the 
slaughter  at  Dutch  Henry's  Crossing,  we  are  shut 
up  more  or  less  completely  to  conjecture.  John 
Brown's  statements  were  sufficiently  evasive  to 


DUTCH  HENRY'S    CROSSING.  147 

deceive  members  of  his  own  family  and  personal 
friends,  who  long  denied  that  he  led  the  foray, 
or  that  he  was  implicated  in  it  otherwise  than 
by  shouldering  responsibility  after  the  event. 
Measured  upon  the  scale  of  the  times,  the  five 
squatters,  upon  whom  he  laid  a  tiger's  paw,  were 
not  exceptionally  bad  men.  Doyle  and  Wilkinson 
were  of  Northern  extraction,  and  do  not  appear 
to  have  reached  any  evil  eminence  that  shot  above 
ordinary  altitudes  of  border  partisanship.  Wil- 
liam Sherman  may  have  been  more  noisy  and  less 
respectable,  but  the  evidence  fails  to  show  that  he 
had  done  anything  worthy  of  assassination.  That 
intelligence  of  alarming  pro-slavery  outbreaks  on 
the  Pottawatomie  could  not  have  been  brought  to 
camp  by  Williams,  nor  by  anybody  else,  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  the  rifle  companies,  organ- 
ized and  equipped  for  the  defense  of  that  particu- 
lar locality,  so  far  from  speeding  homeward  lin- 
gered at  Palmyra  for  two  days  after  John  Brown's 
departure  —  lingered  until  they  were  dispersed  by 
Lieutenant  Church.  Another  circumstance  is  of 
the  same  import.  May  27th  squatters  upon  Pot- 
tawatomie Creek,  "  without  distinction  of  party," 
held  an  indignation  meeting  and  denounced  the 
killing  as  "  an  outrage  of  the  darkest  and  foulest 
nature,"  perpetrated  by  "  midnight  assassins  un- 
known, who  have  taken  five  of  our  citizens  at  tho 
hour  of  midnight  from  their  homes  and  families, 
and  murdered  and  mangled  them  in  the  most  aw- 


148  KANSAS. 

ful  manner."  They  pledged  themselves  "  to  aid 
and  assist  in  bringing  these  desperadoes  to  jus- 
tice." Members  of  the  rifle  companies  who  saw 
Townsley  drive  away  from  camp  on  Middle  Creek 
with  his  farm-wagon  full  of  armed  men,  escorted 
by  Weiner,  and  who,  doubtless,  joined  in  the  part- 
ing round  of  cheers,  had  a  hand  in  this  meeting 
for  public  and  indignant  protest.  As  an  index  of 
sentiment  in  the  community,  which  the  massacre 
purported  to  shield,  it  is  decisive.  If  perils  had 
brooded  over  it  which  invited  and  vindicated  ex- 
treme measures  of  defensive  violence,  a  unanimous 
repudiating  mass-meeting  would  have  been  impos- 
sible. "  It  will  take  a  great  deal  to  justify  night 
attacks  and  shooting  men  after  drum-head  courts- 
martial,"  said  Thomas  Hughes  in  a  lecture  at  the 
Working  Men's  College,  London,  on  "The  Strug- 
gle for  Kansas." 

Unquestionably  rumors  from  the  Pottawatomie 
wrought  upon  Brown,  but  yet  more  potent  were 
the  disheartening  tidings  from  Lawrence.  He 
thought  the  cause  of  freedom  had  been  piloted 
through  bad  seamanship  of  peace-policies  into  dan- 
gerous shallows.  That  was  the  burden  of  his  talk 
in  the  accidental  interview  with  James  Blood, 
where  motives  of  family  or  local  defense  appeared 
faintly,  if  at  all.  Habitually  verging  toward  infat- 
uation on  the  subject  of  slavery,  belonging  to  the 
class  of  men  who  talk  on  great  themes  —  themes 
which  move  them  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet  — 


DUTCH  HENRY'S  CROSSING.  149 

"  in  a  tone  perfectly  level  and  without  emphasis 
and  without  any  exhibition  of  feeling,"  he  was 
presumably  pushed  by  the  exigencies  of  the  crisis 
into  a  condition  of  actual  mania.  The  occasion 
called,  in  his  overwrought  judgment,  for  an  un- 
forgetable  example,  at  once  a  protest  against  pop- 
ular theories  of  non-resistance  and  a  bloody  lesson 
to  enemies.  Should  the  outrage  lead  to  civil  war, 
should  it  embroil  the  country  in  a  conflict  of  arms, 
that  would  only  hasten  the  day  of  proclaiming 
liberty  to  the  captive. 

"  Why  move  thy  feet  so  slow  to  what  is  best  1 " 

The  impersonal,  missionary  motive  —  remember- 
ing those  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them  — flames 
like  sunshine  on  spear-points  where  everything 
else  is  hideous  and  ghastly.  To  the  long  list  of 
violences  committed  under  worthy  but  misguided 
inspirations  must  be  added  the  massacre  at  Dutch 
Henry's  Crossing.  Every  great  cause  has  ef- 
fected complete  conquest  of  impressible  and  un- 
balanced disciples,  thrown  over  them  spells  of 
victorious  fascination,  harnessed  them  to  its  ser- 
vice with  absolute  capitulation  of  self,  blinded 
them  hopelessly  to  interests  and  methods  other 
than  their  own,  and  reduced  to  a  minimum  in 
their  estimate  the  sanctities  and  rights  of  those 
who  ran  counter  to  their  fanaticism. 

Naturally  the  killing  made  a  commotion  among 
pro-slavery  squatters  and  territorial  officials  in  the 


150  KANSAS. 

vicinity  of  Dutch  Henry's  Crossing.*  "  All  is  ex- 
citement here,"  was  the  burden  of  letter-writers 
who  sent  off  appeals  to  Governor  Shannon  from 
Paola,  a  neighboring  town,  on  the  morning  of  the 
26th ;  "  court  cannot  go  on.  .  .  .  Families  are 
leaving  for  Missouri.  .  .  .  We  can  perhaps  mus- 
ter to-day,  including  the  Alabamians,  who  are 
now  encamped  on  Bull  Creek,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men."  "  These  murders,  it  is  sup- 
posed," wrote  General  W.  A.  Heiskell,  of  the  ter- 
ritorial militia,  "  were  committed  by  abolitionists 
of  Osawatomie  and  Pottawatomie  creeks  on  their 
return  from  Lawrence.  How  long  shall  these 
things  continue  ?  How  long  shall  our  citizens, 
unarmed  and  defenseless,  be  exposed  to  worse 
than  savage  cruelty  ?  .  .  .  We  have  here  but  few 
men,  and  they  wholly  unarmed.  We  shall  gather 
together  for  our  own  defense  as  many  men  as  we 
can ;  we  hope  you  will  send  us  as  many  arms  as 
possible ;  and  if,  under  the  circumstances,  you  can 
do  so,  send  as  many  men  as  you  think  may  be  nec- 
essary. General  Barber  is  here.  He  has  sent  to 
Fort  Scott  for  aid.  We  must  organize  such  force 
as  we  can,  but  for  God's  sake  send  arms.  .  .  . 
We  hope  to  be  able  to  identify  some  of  the  mur- 
derers, as  Mr.  [James]  Harris,  who  was  in  their 
hands,  was  released,  and  will  probably  know  some 
of  them."  Harris  happened  to  be  at  the  house 
of  William  Sherman  on  the  night  of  May  24th, 
when,  as  he  stated,  October  23d,  1857,  in  his 


DUTCH  HENRTS   CROSSING.  151 

deposition  before  the  Strickler  Commission,  which 
was  appointed  by  the  territorial  legislature  to 
audit  claims  for  losses  during  the  troubles,  "an 
armed  body  of  men,  in  command  of  the  notorious 
Captain  John  Brown,  ...  by  force  and  arms  and 
with  threats  and  menaces  of  violence  and  bodily 
harm,  took  and  carried  away  from  your  petitioner 
one  horse,  saddle,  bridle,  and  gun  ;  .  .  .  your 
petitioner  further  showeth  that,  being  repeatedly 
threatened  by  said  Captain  Brown  and  followers, 
and  living  in  great  fear  of  my  life,  I  was  forced 
by  their  menaces  and  threats  to  abandon  the  ter- 
ritory." Minerva  Selby  was  also  at  Sherman's 
on  the  fatal  evening.  She  testified  that  she  saw 
Harris  there  with  his  horse,  but  went  away  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  Brown's  party.  "  Harris  with 
his  family  came  to  my  house.  He  said  that  he 
had  been  robbed  at  Sherman's  the  preceding 
night  by  Brown's  men  ;  .  .  .  that  Sherman  had 
been  murdered  the  same  night  by  Brown  and 
his  men ;  .  .  .  that  ...  he  was  threatened  fre- 
quently, and  was  obliged  to  leave  his  home  — 
the  safety  of  himself  and  family  required  it." 
The  Rev.  Martin  White  testified  in  a  similar 
strain  :  "  I  am  acquainted  with  .  .  .  Mr.  Harris. 
Saw  him  a  short  time  after  William  Sherman  had 
been  murdered.  Know  that  the  petitioner  was 
greatly  alarmed ;  seemed  to  apprehend  danger 
from  the  murderers  of  Sherman,  as  the  petitioner 
was  at  the  premises  of  Sherman  when  the  act  was 


152  KANSAS, 

committed.  The  petitioner  expressed  his  fears  of 
being  killed  to  prevent  his  divulging  the  murder. 
Believe  he  was  in  danger  of  being  murdered.  The 
safety  of  himself  and  family  required  him  to  leave 
his  home."  Judge  Cato  wrote  from  Paola  May 
27th :  "  I  shall  do  everything  in  my  power  to 
have  the  matter  investigated,  and  there  seems  to 
be  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  free-state  men 
in  Franklin  [county]  to  aid  in  having  the  laws 
enforced.  As  soon  as  proper  evidence  can  be  pro- 
cured, warrants  will  be  issued  for  the  arrest  of  the 
parties  suspected.  .  .  .  These  murders  were  most 
foully  committed  in  the  night-time,  by  a  gang  of 
some  twelve  or  fifteen  persons,  calling  on  and 
dragging  from  their  houses  defenseless  and  unsus- 
pecting citizens,  and  murdering,  and,  after  mur- 
dering, mutilating  their  bodies  in  a  very  shocking 
manner."  Governor  Shannon  promptly  dispatched 
a  military  force  to  the  Pottawatomie.  "  The  re- 
spectability of  the  parties  and  the  cruelties  attend- 
ing these  murders,"  he  wrote  President  Pierce  May 
31st,  "have  produced  an  extraordinary  state  of 
excitement  in  that  portion  of  the  territory  which 
has  heretofore  remained  comparatively  quiet." 

Extra-judicial  agencies  for  redressing  the  Pot- 
tawatomie outrages  began  to  move  at  once.  News- 
paper extras,  with  sensational  details  of  the  af- 
fair, set  a  Leavenworth  mob  upon  Governor  Rob- 
inson. Captain  H.  C.  Pate,  Kansas  correspondent 
of  "  The  Missouri  Republican,"  who  led  "  the 


BLACK  JACK.  153 

Westport  Sharpshooters  "  —  a  company  recruited 
largely  among  the  rowdies  of  Westport,  Missouri, 
to  assist  in  abating  nuisances  at  Lawrence  May 
21st — was  still  in  the  neighborhood  of  Franklin 
when  the  Pottawatomie  massacre  occurred.  On 
receiving  intelligence  of  it,  he  hastily  broke  camp 
for  Osawatomie,  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  the 
perpetrators.  He  scoured  the  country  in  no  gen- 
tle fashion,  but  missed  the  main  object  of  his  mis- 
sion. Saturday,  May  31st,  Pate  went  into  camp 
at  Black  Jack,  three  quarters  of  a  mile  west  of 
the  village,  on  the  edge  of  the  prairie.  A  line  of 
wagons  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  bivouac  formed 
a  straggling,  intermittent  breastwork,  while  the 
rear  was  protected  by  a  wooded,  water-rutted 
ravine. 

There  was  no  lack  of  predatory  energy  in  the 
border -ruffian  camp.  A  squad  of  Pate's  men 
looted  Palmyra,  a  settlement  of  four  or  five  fam- 
ilies, Saturday  evening.  They  returned  with  some 
plunder  and  two  prisoners. 

The  easy  success  at  Palmyra  stimulated  further 
depredations.  Sunday,  six  of  the  band  at  Black 
Jack  rode  over  to  Prairie  City,  —  a  neighboring 
hamlet  —  in  search  of  fun  and  booty.  They  antici- 
pated nothing  more  serious  than  a  profitable  frolic. 
But  some  circuit  preacher  had  an  appointment  at 
Prairie  City  for  that  Lord's  Day.  To  this  service 
came  people  of  the  vicinity  in  considerable  num- 
bers. Apprehensive  that  the  order  of  service  might 


1 54  KANSAS. 

suddenly  change  from  spiritual  to  carnal,  they 
brought  along  their  guns.  In  the  midst  of  wor- 
ship there  was  an  alarm  —  "  The  Missourians  are 
coming!  "  Never  did  religious  exercises  conclude 
more  abruptly.  Six  horsemen,  charging  into  town 
with  rifles  across  their  saddles,  instantly  absorbed 
the  attention  of  the  congregation.  The  troopers, 
surprised  at  the  number  of  people  in  the  minia- 
ture village,  halted  before  they  reached  the  cabin 
which  served  for  a  church.  Two  raiders,  desper- 
ate characters  if  the  recollection  of  their  captors 
may  be  credited  —  one  of  them  with  blackened 
face  and  sporting  chicken's  feathers  in  his  hat  — 
were  bagged.  The  remainder,  though  exposed  to 
a  random  musketry,  escaped. 

These  marauding  operations  stimulated  the  lo- 
cal campaign  against  Pate.  Old  John  Brown, 
hearing  of  his  anxiety  to  meet  him,  started  after 
the  Missourian  with  twenty-eight  men ;  ten  be- 
longing to  his  own  company,  and  the  remainder  to 
Captain  S.  T.  Shore's.  "  We  did  not  meet  them 
on  that  day  "  (Sunday),  said  John  Brown  in  an 
account  of  the  battle  of  Black  Jack  first  printed 
in  Sanborn's  "  Life  and  Letters."  ..."  We  were 
out  all  night,  but  could  find  nothing  of  them  until 
about  six  o'clock,  when  we  prepared  to  attack  them 
at  once.  .  .  .  We  got  to  within  about  a  mile  of  their 
camp  before  being  discovered  by  their  scouts,  and 
then  moved  at  a  brisk  pace ;  Captain  Shore  and 
men  forming  our  left,  and  my  company  the  right. 


BLACK  JACK.  155 

When  within  about  sixty  rods  of  the  enemy,  Cap- 
tain Shore's  men  halted  by  mistake  in  a  very  ex- 
posed situation  and  continued  the  fire,  both  his 
men  and  the  enemy  being  armed  with  Sharpe's 
rifles.  My  company  had  no  long  shooters.  We 
(my  company)  did  not  fire  a  gun  until  we  gained 
the  rear  of  a  bank,  about  fifteen  or  twenty  rods 
to  the  right  of  the  enemy,  where  we  commenced 
and  soon  compelled  them  to  hide  in  a  ravine." 

There  was  a  desultory  fire  for  two  or  three  hours, 
during  which  Pate's  situation  grew  more  and  more 
critical.  Half  of  his  men  had  skulked  away, 
and  the  assailants  were  slowly  but  surely  closing 
in  upon  the  remainder.  Free-state  reinforcements 
might  appear  at  any  moment.  Pate  finally  sent 
out  a  flag  of  truce.  Brown  declined  to  negotiate 
with  subordinates,  and  the  commander  of  "  the 
Westport  Sharpshooters  "  appeared  forthwith.  "  I 
approached,"  he  said,  "  and  made  known  the  fact 
that  I  was  acting  under  the  order  of  the  United 
States  marshal,  and  was  only  in  search  of  persons 
for  whom  writs  of  arrest  had  been  issued."  But 
talk  of  that  sort  had  no  more  effect  upon  Brown 
than  the  iris  above  a  cataract  on  the  waters  plung- 
ing below  it.  He  would  hear  of  nothing  except 
unconditional  surrender.  Trivialities  like  flags  of 
truce  and  writs  of  territorial  marshals  he  uncere- 
moniously brushed  aside.  Fifteen  minutes  were 
modestly  asked  to  consider  the  proposition  for 
capitulation.  "  Brown  refused,"  said  Pate  in  "  The 


156  KANSAS. 

Missouri  Republican,"  "and  I  was -taken  prisoner 
under  a  flag  of  truce.  ...  I  had  no  alternative 
but  to  submit  or  to  run  and  be  shot.  ...  I 
went  to  take  Old  Brown,  and  Old  Brown  took 
me." 

Brown  captured  twenty-three  men  —  some  of 
them  residents  of  the  neighborhood  —  and  commis- 
sary supplies  of  considerable  amount,  all  of  which 
were  conveyed  to  his  camp  on  Middle  Creek.  He 
narrowly  escaped  failure  in  the  expedition,  as  only 
a  single  round  of  ammunition  remained  when  the 
flag  of  truce  appeared.  Just  after  the  fight  had 
closed  free-state  reinforcements  arrived  from  neigh- 
boring towns. 

The  capture  of  Pate  was  not  the  only  exploit 
of  Brown's  company  in  the  vicinity  of  Black  Jack. 
At  St.  Bernard,  five  miles  from  camp,  a  successful 
pro-slavery  trader  had  a  miscellaneous  store  filled 
with  dry  goods,  clothing,  groceries,  drugs,  fire- 
arms, hardware,  boots  and  shoes.  A  necessitous 
company  of  guerrillas  could  scarcely  be  expected 
to  neglect  so  favorable  an  opportunity  to  supply 
their  wants  at  the  expense  of  a  Southerner.  Cer- 
tainly the  company  encamped  on  Middle  Creek 
did  nothing  of  the  kind.  About  nightfall  June 
3d  —  such  is  the  drift  of  testimony  before  the 
Strickler  Commission  —  "  part  of  a  company  com- 
manded by  one  John  Brown,"  "  armed  with 
Sharpe's  rifles,  pistols,  bowie-knives,  and  other 
deadly  weapons,  came  upon  the  premises  and 


BLACK  JACK.  157 

attacked  and  rushed  into  the  said  store "  —  a 
sudden  condition  of  affairs  so  warlike  that  the 
employees  "  were  deterred,  threatened,  and  over- 
powered by  the  desperadoes,  .  .  .  who  demanded 
a  surrender  of  the  goods  and  chattels,  .  .  .  threat- 
ening immediate  death  and  destruction  should  the 
slightest  resistance  be  offered."  Finding  the  prize 
richer  than  had  been  anticipated  and  their  appli- 
ances of  transportation  inadequate,  the  gang  re- 
turned in  the  morning  and  resumed  operations. 
They  evidently  left  nothing  to  be  desired  in  point 
of  thoroughness.  A  young  woman,  into  whose 
private  apartments  the  rascals  forcibly  intruded, 
and  at  whom  they  "  presented  several  guns," 
though  perhaps  unfavorably  circumstanced  for  dis- 
passionate criticism,  gave  her  impressions  concern- 
ing their  personal  appearance.  "  They  were  des- 
perate and  vicious  looking  men,"  she  said,  .  .  . 
"more  like  barbarians  than  civilized  beings." 

Black  Jack  was  not  the  only  disordering  conse- 
quence swiftly  following  the  24th  of  May.  The 
Missouri  border  rushed  to  arms.  Whitfield,  ter- 
ritorial delegate  to  Congress,  put  himself  in  the 
lead.  Westport,  Lexington,  and  Independence 
raised  companies  for  the  army  of  invasion,  which 
gathered  with  celerity,  was  well  equipped,  and  on 
the  3d  of  June  reached  Bull  Creek,  twelve  miles 
east  of  Palmyra.  It  was  planned  that  a  junction 
should  be  formed  with  Pate,  and  then  the  consol- 
idated force  would  scourge  every  abolitionist  from 


158  KANSAS. 

the  country.  This  pretty  campaign  the  disaster 
at  Black  Jack  somewhat  disconcerted. 

Free-state  men  also  were  astir.  Their  military 
companies,  snuffing  mischief  in  the  air,  concen- 
trated near  Palmyra  —  detachments  of  Captain 
Samuel  Walker's  "  Bloomington  Rifles,"  of  Cap- 
tain Joseph  Cracklin's  "  Lawrence  Stubbs,"  of 
Captain  J.  B.  Abbott's  "  Blue  Mound  Infantry," 
of  Captain  McWhinney's  "  Wakarusa  Boys,"  and 
of  Captain  S.  T.  Shore's  "Prairie  City  Company" 
—  amounting  altogether  to  about  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  men.  Brown  lurked  in  the  woods  of 
Middle  Creek,  fully  occupied  with  the  care  of  his 
prisoners.  June  5th  Kansans  and  Missourians 
were  facing  each  other  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
and  apparently  on  the  eve  of  collision. 

Governor  Shannon  became  alarmed,  and  roused 
himself  into  a  vigorous  activity.  He  published  a 
proclamation  June  4th  commanding  all  armed  and 
illegal  organizations  to  disperse.  Citizens  "  with- 
out regard  to  party  names  or  distinctions  "  were 
assured  of  protection,  and  invaders  warned  to  re- 
tire. The  proclamation,  though  a  little  tardy,  had 
the  right  ring.  Colonel  Sumner  thought  that  if 
it  "had  been  issued  six  months  earlier  and  rig- 
idly maintained  these  difficulties  would  have  been 
avoided." 

Fifty  federal  dragoons,  with  Colonel  Sumner  at 
their  head,  hurriedly  left  Lecompton  June  5th  to 
part  the  belligerents  concentrating  near  Palmyra. 


BLACK  JACK.  159 

"  Any  delay  .  .  .  will  lead  to  fearful  conse- 
quences," the  governor  urged.  Deputy  Marshal 
Fain,  supplied,  it  was  supposed,  with  a  liberal  as- 
sortment of  warrants,  accompanied  the  expedition. 
The  colonel  found  a  larger  disturbance  brewing 
at  Palmyra  than  his  imperfect  knowledge  had  led 
him  to  suspect.  The  tone  of  his  official  report  in- 
dicates that  in  his  view  the  main  business  of  the 
expedition  was  "  to  disperse  a  band  of  free-soilers, 
who  were  encamped  near  Prairie  City ;  this  band 
had  had  a  fight  with  the  pro-slavery  party,  and 
had  taken  twenty-six  prisoners."  During  the  day 
Sumner  reached  the  vicinity  of  Old  John  Brown's 
lair,  from  which  his  approach  could  be  distinctly 
seen  across  the  prairie.  Unmistakably  he  in- 
tended to  visit  the  camp,  and  after  a  hurried  con- 
sultation it  was  thought  prudent  to  send  out 
a  messenger  with  proposals  for  an  interview. 
"  What 's  going  on  down  there  ?  "  Sumner  asked, 
pointing  toward  the  free-soil  bivouac.  "  Captain 
John  Brown  has  Pate  and  his  men  prisoners.  He 
sent  me  to  meet  you  and  to  inquire  where  an  in- 
terview can  be  held."  "  Tell  him  he  can  see  me 
right  here."  The  messenger  returned  and  made 
his  report.  "  We  must  see  Colonel  Sumner  apart 
from  his  men,"  suggested  Captain  Shore.  Brown 
concurred,  and  the  runner,  though  with  some  re- 
luctance, set  out  again.  "Well,  what  is  it  now?" 
the  colonel  asked  with  evident  impatience.  The 
request  of  Brown  and  Shore  was  stated.  "  Tell 


160  KANSAS. 

them,"  he  growled,  "that  I  maka  no  terms  with 
lawless  men  —  tell  them  that.  Dragoons,  form 
a  company  —  march."  The  runner  flew  back  to 
camp  at  a  break-neck  pace,  and  the  horsemen  fol- 
lowed on  behind.  Brown  and  Shore  sallied  forth 
to  meet  the  not  very  welcome  visitors.  After 
some  parleying  Brown  led  the  dragoons  into  camp. 
Colonel  Sumner  stated  that  his  orders  were  to  re- 
lease Pate,  and  to  aid  the  officers  in  serving  writs. 
Marshal  Fain  fumbled  among  his  papers,  but 
finally  said  he  could  find  none  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  anybody  in  the  camp.  It  is  reported  that 
Sumner  afterwards  took  Brown  aside  and  told 
him  that  a  warrant  for  his  arrest  had  been  is- 
sued, but  that  the  marshal  had  inadvertently  mis- 
laid it. 

A  good  deal  of  stir  and  bustle  ensued  in  setting 
the  prisoners  at  liberty,  and  in  restoring  to  them 
as  far  as  possible  their  effects.  The  mere  hum- 
drum formality  of  regaining  his  freedom  —  the 
bare,  unadorned  act  of  escaping  from  Old  Brown's 
lair  with  a  whole  skin  —  did  not  quite  fill  out 
Pate's  idea  of  what  belonged  to  the  proprieties 
of  the  occasion.  One  thing  was  yet  lacking  —  a 
speech  from  himself,  extenuating  any  infelicities, 
and  illuminating  any  obscurities  that  might  vex 
his  recent  record.  Mounting  upon  a  log  he  began 
a  speech,  upon  which,  before  it  had  fairly  got  under 
way,  came  sudden  extinction  — 
"  As  when  a  lamp  is  blown  oat  by  a  gust  of  wind  in  a  casement" 


BLACK  JACK  AND   OSAWATOMIE.  161 

"  I  don't  want  to  hear  a  word  out  of  you,  sir," 
thundered  Sumner  —  "  not  a  word,  sir.  You  have 
no  business  here.  The  governor  told  me  so !  " 

While  breaking  up  Brown's  camp  Sumner 
learned,  with  evident  astonishment,  "  that  two  or 
three  hundred  of  the  pro-slavery  party  from  Mis- 
souri and  elsewhere  were  approaching,"  to  whom 
he  gave  attention.  "  I  found  them  halted,"  he 
reports,  "  at  two  miles  distance  (about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  strong),  and  to  my  great  surprise  I 
found  Colonel  Whitfield,  the  member  of  Congress, 
and  General  Coffee,  of  the  militia,  at  their  head. 
...  I  then  requested  General  Coffee  to  assemble 
his  people,  and  I  read  to  them  the  president's  dis- 
patch and  the  governor's  proclamation."  Whit- 
field  and  Coffee  made  fair  promises,  and  "  moved 
off,"  though  Sumner  did  not  feel  assured  they 
were  not  bent  on  mischief-making  somewhere. 
He  remained  in  the  disquieted  district  until  the 
22d  of  June,  when  he  considered  the  work  of 
pacification  accomplished.  Only  a  few  freeboot- 
ers kept  the  field.  "  These  fellows,"  he  reported, 
"  belong  to  both  parties,  and  are  taking  advantage 
of  the  present  political  excitement  to  commit  their 
own  rascally  acts." 

The  Missourians  retired  sullenly  across  the  bor- 
der. Their  leisurely  and  circuitous  path  was 
marked  by  the  customary  excesses,  including  the 
dead  bodies  of  two  or  three  f  ree-soilers.  For  a  por- 
tion, at  all  events,  of  ^Whitfield's  expedition  the 
11 


162  KANSAS, 

line  of  return  dipped  southward  through  the  odi- 
ous village  of  Osawatomie.  So  far  the  victims  of 
Dutch  Henry's  Crossing  had  been  feebly  and  im- 
perfectly avenged.  To  smite  the  town  with  which 
John  Brown  was  most  intimately  associated,  in 
default  of  larger  game,  would  yield  a  qualified  and 
secondary  satisfaction.  "  The  abolition  hole  "  — 
containing  some  thirty  buildings  and  a  population 
of  two  hundred  souls  —  was  surprised  and  pillaged. 
The  raiders  expected  to  fire  the  town,  but  as  fed- 
eral troops  were  near,  and  free-state  rangers  might 
be  in  close  pursuit,  nothing  worse  than  plunder- 
ing happened.  A  final  reckoning  with  Osawat- 
omie was  deferred.  The  calamitous  consequences 
of  the  night  raid  upon  the  Pottawatomie  had  not 
yet  spent  their  fury. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PER   ASPERA. 

THE  calamities  of  free -state  men  in  Kansas 
were  stepping-stones  to  final  success.  They  moved 
Northern  sentiment  profoundly.  Speakers  fresh 
from  the  border  addressed  great  public  gatherings 
and  inflamed  the  excitement  by  the  adventurous, 
romantic,  far-away  interest  that  attached  to  them, 
by  unmeasured  denunciations  of  the  slave  power, 
by  sensational  narratives  of  the  hardships,  rob- 
beries, and  murders  that  had  befallen  anti-slavery 
settlers  in  the  territory.  Pulpit,  press,  and  con- 
vention caught  up  and  reverberated  their  impas- 
sioned message.  The  legislatures  of  several  North- 
ern States  passed  resolutions  recognizing  the  serv- 
ices and  sufferings  of  Kansas  pioneers  in  the  cause 
of  liberty.  "We  have  heard,"  said  the  legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  "  the  call  for  aid  and  sympa- 
thy which  has  come  up  ...  from  the  settlers  of 
Kansas  with  the  deepest  solicitude  ;  .  .  .  their 
sufferings  have  touched  our  hearts  ;  and  the 
manly  defense  of  their  rights  has  won  our  admi- 
ration." 

In  the  autumn  of  1856   two    books   appeared 


164  KANSAS. 

which  stimulated  and  perpetuated  public  interest : 
"Kansas,  Its  Exterior  and  Interior  Life,"  by 
Mrs.  Sara  T.  L.  Robinson  —  a  brave,  graphic,  real- 
istic, clear-eyed  narrative  of  border  experiences, 
exhibiting  their  social,  domestic,  every-day  phases 
as  well  as  their  turbulent,  political  constituents, 
and  running  through  nine  editions  ;  "  The  Con- 
quest of  Kansas,"  by  W.  A.  Phillips  —  a  breezy, 
readable  book,  not  without  sense  of  humor,  but 
marred  by  inaccuracies  and  exaggerations. 

A  fierce  agitation  flamed  and  roared  like  a  prai- 
rie fire  from  Boston  to  the  Northwest.  But  the 
movement  did  not  spend  itself  in  flame  and  smoke. 
Societies  of  semi-military  cast,  no  less  willing  to 
furnish  guns  than  groceries,  sprang  up  as  if  by 
magic,  and  overshadowed  the  earlier,  more  pacific 
organizations.  A  national  society,  with  auxilia- 
ries in  almost  every  free  state  except  Massachu- 
setts, which  had  a  flourishing  "  State  Kansas  Com- 
mittee "  of  its  own,  got  afoot  and  harvested  not 
less  than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  Kansas 
purposes.  The  Massachusetts  committee  secured 
funds  to  the  amount  of  eighty  thousand  dollars  in 
addition  to  large  supplies.  Eager,  cooperative  ac- 
tivities woke  on  every  side.  "  I  know  people," 
said  Emerson  in  a  speech  at  Cambridge,  "who 
are  making  haste  to  reduce  their  expenses  and 
pay  their  debts,  not  with  a  view  to  new  accumula- 
tions, but  in  preparation  to  save  and  earn  for  the 
benefit  of  Kansas  emigrants." 


PER  AS  PER  A.  165 

"  Thou  hast  great  allies ; 
Thy  friends  are  exultations,  agonies, 
And  love  and  Man's  unconquerable  mind." 

The  volume  of  anti-slavery  migration  toward 
the  territory  swelled  like  mountain  streams  after 
heavy  showers.  A  constant  movement  thither- 
ward had  been  in  progress  through  the  spring  and 
early  summer.  Among  the  companies  who  ar- 
rived during  that  period  were  the  widely-heralded 
"  rifle  Christians  "  from  New  Haven,  Connecticut 
—  seventy-nine  resolute  men,  under  the  conduct 
of  C.  B.  Lines,  armed  with  bibles  and  Sharpe's 
carbines.  "  We  gratefully  accept  the  bibles,"  said 
the  leader  of  the  colony,  "  as  the  only  sure  foun- 
dation on  which  to  erect  free  institutions.  .  .  . 
We  .  .  .  accept  the  weapons  also,  and,  like  our 
fathers,  we  go  with  the  bible  to  indicate  the 
peaceful  nature  of  our  mission  and  the  harmless 
character  of  our  company,  and  a  weapon  to  teach 
those  who  may  be  disposed  to  molest  us  (if  any 
such  there  be)  that  while  we  determine  to  do  that 
which  is  right  we  will  not  submit  tamely  to  that 
which  is  wrong."  "  We  will  not  forget  you," 
said  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  prominent  in  securing 
for  the  colony  an  outfitting  of  guns.  "  Every 
morning  breeze  shall  catch  the  blessings  of  our 
prayers  and  roll  them  westward  to  your  prairie 
home." 

Pro-slavery  leaders  on  the  border  viewed  with 
alarm  these  unwonted  exhibitions  of  Northern  en- 


166  KANSAS. 

ergy  and  anger.  Rumors  of  impending  invasions 
—  of  populous,  grimy,  fanatic  abolitionist  hordes, 
with  hate  in  their  hearts  and  arms  in  their  hands, 
hurrying  toward  the  frontier  —  flew  thick  and 
fast.  Steps  must  be  taken  at  once  to  meet  the 
new  and  multiplying  perils.  Unless  the  great  in- 
flowing current  of  Northern  life  could  be  checked, 
all  hope  of  Southern  supremacy  in  Kansas  must 
be  at  once  and  forever  abandoned. 

Atchison  and  his  associates  attacked  the  prob- 
lem before  them  with  no  half-way  policy.  They 
resolved  to  police  the  great  national  highway  of 
the  Missouri  River  against  all  traffic  inimical  to 
the  interests  of  slavery.  Steamers  were  over- 
hauled, free-state  consignments  of  merchandise 
seized,  Kansas  ward  travelers  unable  to  give  satis- 
factory accounts  of  themselves  arrested  and  sent 
down  the  river.  A.  A.  Lawrence  and  Dr.  Samuel 
Cabot,  of  Boston,  shipped  for  the  territory  four 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  Sharpe's  rifles,  which 
happened  to  be  in  transitu  when  the  embargo 
began  to  stiffen.  These  guns  the  volunteer  river 
commissioners  seized.  The  Boston  gentlemen  were 
naturally  anxious  to  recover  the  arms,  but  felt  a 
little  awkward  and  embarrassed  in  making  the  ef- 
fort. "  If  we  were  not  officers  of  the  Emigrant 
Aid  Company,"  Lawrence  wrote,  "  (which  takes 
no  pai't  in  such  matters  .  .  .  )  we  could  get  them 
by  suit ;  but  whether  we  can  do  it  by  proxy  re- 
mains to  be  seen." 


PER  ASPERA.  167 

The  first  considerable  party  —  seventy-five  in 
number  —  to  which  the  revised  code  of  inter-state 
traffic  was  applied  came  from  Chicago.  They 
were  recruited  at  an  immense  mass-meeting  in 
that  city  May  31st,  which  Lane,  who  was  a  stump 
orator  of  remarkable  power,  addressed  with  great 
effect.  The  Chicago  immigrants  met  with  no 
special  annoyance  until  they  reached  Lexington, 
where  they  were  subjected  to  a  preliminary  inves- 
tigation and  lost  their  Sharpe's  rifles.  They  then 
proceeded  to  Leavenworth,  where  a  second  exami- 
nation took  place,  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  "  about  two  bushels  of  revolvers,  pistols,  and 
bowie-knives."  Finally,  they  were  sent  back 
down  the  river,  put  ashore  near  Alton,  Illinois,  in 
a  drenching  rain-storm,  and  left  to  shift  for  them- 
selves. 

Overland  immigrants  fared  no  better  when  they 
touched  the  soil  of  Missouri,  but  encountered  the 
same  belligerent  policy  that  threw  its  obstruc- 
tions across  the  river.  This  policy,  it  should  be 
remarked,  commanded  general  though  not  univer- 
sal credit  among  the  valiant  friends  of  law  and 
order.  It  was  too  flat  and  insipid  for  some  of  the 
newspaper  editors.  "We  are  of  the  opinion," 
said  "  The  Squatter  Sovereign,"  "  [that]  if  the 
citizens  of  Leavenworth  .  .  .  would  hang  one  or 
two  boat-loads  of  abolitionists  it  would  do  more 
towards  establishing  peace  in  Kansas  than  all  the 
speeches  that  have  been  delivered  in  Congress 


168  KANSAS. 

during  the  present  session.  Let  the  experiment 
be  tried !  " 

The  Missourians  did  not  succeed  in  their  efforts 
at  obstruction.  They  could  no  more  balk  the 
great  Northern  movement  toward  Kansas  than 
they  could  check  the  Missouri  with  the  palm  of 
the  hand.  Perplexity,  agitation,  experiment, 
shifting  of  routes,  they  compassed,  and  that  was 
all.  Various  plans  for  breaking  the  embargo  on 
the  Missouri  River  were  rife  in  Eastern  anti-slav- 
ery circles,  such  as  the  purchase  of  an  armed  ves- 
sel to  cruise  upon  its  forbidden  waters ;  the  as- 
sembling -of  friendly  legislatures  with  a  vague, 
undefined  purpose  of  state  interference  ;  a  protest 
of  state  executives  against  violations  of  consti- 
tutional rights  of  travel  prevalent  in  Missouri, 
which  Mr.  Thaddeus  Hyatt  volunteered  to  carry 
to  every  Northern  governor  for  his  signature. 

None  of  these  projects  ever  reached  the  stage 
of  practical  experiment.  The  crisis  was  hardly 
serious  enough  to  call  for  heroic  remedies.  Mis- 
souri did  not  command  all  accessible  routes  to 
Kansas.  It  were  easy  to  flank  the  blockade  by 
opening  communications  through  Iowa  and  Ne- 
braska. This  measure  was  successfully  accom- 
plished through  the  energy  of  the  "  Kansas  State 
Central  Committee,"  appointed  by  the  Topeka 
mass-convention.  Toward  the  close  of  July  the 
Chicago  emigrants,  together  with  fresh  companies 
from  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and 


PER  ASPERA.  169 

Wisconsin  —  reaching  an  aggregate  of  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six  persons  —  were  encamped  near 
Nebraska  City  en  route  for  Kansas.  This  company 
had  been  loudly  noised  abroad  as  Lane's  Northern 
army.  Governor  Shannon,  in  no  little  alarm, 
urged  General  P.  F.  Smith,  who  succeeded  Colonel 
Sumner  in  command  of  the  department,  "  to  take 
the  field  with  the  whole  disposable  force  in  the 
territory,"  to  keep  this  ill-reputed  horde  at  bay, 
which  he  declined  to  do  on  the  ground  that  the 
governor's  information  Was  untrustworthy.  July 
29th  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe  and  Thaddeus  Hyatt,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  National  Kansas  Committee,  sent 
out  to  investigate  matters,  reached  the  Nebraska 
camp.  They  found  many  of  the  immigrants  in 
a  forlorn  condition  —  ragged,  almost  penniless, 
poorly  supplied  with  even  the  scanty  furniture 
of  a  camper's  outfit.  Leadership  had  fallen  into 
Lane's  hands,  and  the  whole  expedition  became 
accredited  to  him,  though  he  was  neither  directly 
nor  indirectly  concerned  in  raising  more  than  a 
fourth  part  of  it.  The  committee  demanded  that 
his  connection  with  it  should  be  completely  sev- 
ered on  penalty  of  withholding  further  supplies. 
Considerations  which  led  to  this  summary  step 
were  the  fact  that  papers  had  been  made  out  for 
Lane's  arrest  —  a  circumstance  which  might  lead 
to  complications;  that  in  an  emergency  his  dis- 
cretion and  self-command  could  not  be  trusted. 
These  considerations,  the  committee  reported, 


170  KANSAS. 

"  conspired  to  create  a  well-grounded  apprehen- 
sion in  our  minds  that  by  some  hasty  and  ill-timed 
splurge  he  would  defeat  the  object  of  the  expedi- 
tion if  suffered  to  remain  even  in  otherwise  de- 
sirable proximity."  Lane  took  the  decision  much 
to  heart.  "  If  the  people  of  Kansas  don't  want 
me,"  he  said,  "  I  '11  cut  my  throat  to-day."  But 
he  sullenly  yielded,  set  otf  toward  the  territory 
with  Old  John  Brown,  Captain  Samuel  Walker, 
and  three  or  four  others,  outrode  his  escort,  and 
reached  Lawrence  alone  August  llth,  disguised 
as  Captain  Jo  Cook.  He  tarried  long  enough  in 
Topeka  to  *  write  the  free-state  prisoners  at  Le- 
compton  a  note,  offering  to  attack  the  federal  sol- 
diers who  guarded  them  if  they  could  not  other- 
wise escape.  The  so-called  Northern  army  pursued 
its  way  leisurely  into  the  territory  and  founded 
along  the  line  of  march  two  towns  —  Plymouth 
and  Holton.  Members  of  the  expedition,  who 
did  not  tarry  for  these  enterprises,  reached  Topeka 
on  the  13th  of  August. 

Other  overland  parties  followed.  Late  in  Sep- 
tember James  Redpath,  with  one  hundred  and 
thirty  men,  appeared  on  the  northern  boundary. 
A  martial,  non-agricultural  reputation  preceded 
this  company.  Colonel  J.  E.  Johnston  with  four 
companies  of  dragoons  marched  toward  the  Ne- 
braska line  to  insure  it  a  fitting  reception,  but 
after  applying  suitable  tests  he  pronounced  the 
travelers  to  be  "  real  immigrants." 


PER  ASP  ERA.  171 

The  Redpath  scare  had  no  sooner  abated  than 
another  still  more  violent  succeeded.  Reports 
reached  Lecompton  that  six  or  seven  hundred 
men,  with  three  pieces  of  artillery,  were  on  the 
point  of  crossing  the  Nebraska  line.  Colonel  P. 
St.  George  Cooke  hurried  forward  reinforcements, 
increasing  the  number  of  federal  troops  along  the 
frontier  to  five  hundred  strong.  One  heavy  dis- 
appointment befell  the  colonel  during  the  north- 
ward expedition.  "  I  just  missed  the  arrest  of 
the  notorious  Osawatomie  outlaw,  Brown,"  he  re- 
ported October  7th.  "  The  night  before,  having 
ascertained  that  after  dark  he  had  stopped  for 
the  night  at  a  house  six  miles  from  the  camp, 
I  sent  a  party,  who  found  at  twelve  o'clock  he  had 
gone."  Colonel  Cooke  was  more  successful  in 
catching  the  latest  overland  immigrants,  who  were 
brought  to  a  bait  near  the  Nebraska  line  on  the 
morning  of  October  10th.  The  excess  of  men  in 
the  company  excited  suspicion,  as  the  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three  persons  reported  by  the 
officer  of  the  day  included  only  "  five  women  of 
marriageable  age."  "  I  do  not  see  many  spin- 
ning-wheels sticking  out  of  the  wagons,"  said 
Colonel  Cooke  as  he  walked  about  them.  Indeed, 
they  contained  "  no  visible  furniture,  agricultural 
implements,  or  mechanical  tools,"  but  abounded  in 
"  all  the  requisite  articles  for  camping  and  cam- 
paigning purposes."  Marshal  Preston,  in  spite 
of  much  protesting,  searched  the  wagons  and  un- 


172  KANSAS. 

earthed  a  remarkaole  assortment  of  farming  im- 
plements —  Hall's  muskets,  Sharpe's  carbines,  re- 
volvers, sabres,  bayonets,  fixed  ammunition,  kegs 
of  powder,  and  dragoon  saddles.  "  It  was  raining 
on  the  day  of  arrest,"  reported  Marshal  Preston, 
"  which  subjected  us  all  to  a  drenching.  It  was 
to  be  regretted,  but  could  not  be  prevented."  The 
grumbling  expedition  was  escorted  to  Topeka, 
where  the  conductors  of  it,  S.  W.  Eldridge,  S.  C. 
Pomeroy,  and  others,  laid  their  grievances  be- 
fore the  governor,  resented  the  meddlesome  inter- 
ference of  "  one  Preston,  deputy  United  States 
marshal,"  and  disavowed  with  much  posturing  of 
injured  innocence  every  warlike  purpose.  These 
flower-soft,  unmilitary  gentlemen  forgot  to  inform 
the  governor,  to  whom  the  intelligence  would  have 
been  of  interest,  that  the  bulk  of  their  formidable 
military  munitions  had  been  obtained  from  the 
Iowa  state  arsenal;  that  the  authorities  allowed 
Robert  Morrow  to  help  himself  to  whatever  it 
contained  on  the  not  very  onerous  condition  that 
he  would  manage  the  operation  discreetly ;  that 
Morrow  seized  at  night  three  wagonloads  of  guns 
and  ammunition,  and  added  them  to  the  resources 
of  immigrants  who  were  lustily  protesting,  "  Our 
mission  to  this  territory  is  entirely  peaceful." 
They  escaped  with  no  severer  penalties  than  a 
lecture  on  the  rules  and  maxims  of  behavior  ap- 
propriate for  new-come  Kansans. 

When  they  began  to  comprehend  in  some  meas- 


PER  ASP  ERA.  173 

ure  the  extent  and  intensity  of  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment moving  among  the  Northern  States  ;  when 
they  saw  great  tides  of  hostile  immigration  pour- 
ing around  their  ineffectual  barriers  into  Kansas  — 
a  spectacle  tending  to  cloud  the  hopes  of  the  most 
confident  and  optimistic  —  pro-slavery  leaders  be- 
gan to  question  the  wisdom  of  that  insolent  and 
contemptuous  confidence  which  had  thus  far  ruled 
their  councils.  They  revised  their  tactics  so  far 
as  even  to  catch  a  lesson  from  their  enemies,  and 
attempted,  though  with  the  awkwardness  of  nov- 
ices and  of  pupils  to  some  other  manner  born,  the 
effective  guise  of  martyrs.  Atchison,  B.  F.  String- 
fellow,  Buford,  and  others  published  an  address, 
June  21st,  setting  forth  pathetically  and  volumi- 
nously the  calamities  that  were  upon  them :  — 

"  Kansas  they  [the  abolitionists]  justly  regard  as  the 
mere  outpost  in  the  war  now  being  waged  between 
the  antagonistic  civilizations  of  the  North  and  South, 
and,  winning  this  great  outpost  and  standpoint,  they 
rightly  think  their  march  will  be  open  to  an  easy  con- 
quest of  the  whole  field.  Hence  the  extraordinary 
means  the  abolition  party  has  adopted  to  flood  Kansas 
with  the  most  fanatical  and  lawless  portion  of  North- 
ern society,  and  hence  the  large  sums  of  money  .  .  . 
expended  to  surround  .  .  .  Missourians  with  obnoxious 
and  dangerous  neighbors.  On  the  other  hand,  the  pro- 
slavery  element  of  the  law  and  order  party  in  Kansas, 
looking  to  the  Bible  finds  slavery  ordained  of  God. 
.  .  .  Slavery  is  the  African's  normal  and  proper  state. 


174  KANSAS. 

.  .  .  We  believe  it  a  trust  and  guardianship  given  as 
of  God  for  the  good  of  both  races.  .  I  .  This  is  ... 
a  great  social  and  political  question  of  races,  ...  a 
question  whether  we  shall  sink  to  the  level  of  the 
freed  African  and  take  him  to  the  embrace  of  social 
and  political  equality  and  fraternity ;  for  such  is  the 
natural  end  of  abolition  progress.  .  .  .  That  man  or 
state  is  deceived  that  fondly  trusts  these  fanatics  may 
stop  at  Kansas.  .  .  .  The  most  convincing  proof  .  .  . 
of  this  was  recently  given  before  the  congressional  in- 
vestigating committee.  Judge  Matthew  Walker  .  .  . 
testified  .  .  .  that  before  the  abolitionists  selected  Law- 
rence as  their  centre  of  operations  their  leader,  Gov- 
ernor Robinson,  attempted  to  get  a  foothold  for  them  in 
the  Wyandotte  reserve.  .  .  .  Robinson,  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  communicate  their  plans  and  objects,  divulged  to 
Walker  (whom  he  then  supposed  to  be  a  sympathizer) 
that  the  abolitionists  were  determined  on  winning  Kan- 
sas at  any  cost ;  that  then,  having  Missouri  surrounded 
on  three  sides,  they  would  begin  their  assaults  on  her, 
and  as  fast  as  one  state  gave  way  attack  another,  until 
the  whole  South  was  abolitionized.  .  .  .  We  are  confi- 
dent that  .  .  .  the  abolition  party  was  truly  represented 
by  Robinson,  who  has  always  been  their  chief  man  and 
acknowledged  leader  in  Kansas.  ...  It  was  proved  be- 
fore the  investigating  committee  that  the  abolition  party 
had  traveling  agents  in  the  territory  whose  duty  it  was 
to  gather  up,  exaggerate,  and  report  for  publication  ru- 
mors to  the  prejudice  of  the  law  and  order  party.  .  .  . 
In  the  present  imperiled  state  of  your  civilization,  if 
we  do  not  maintain  this  outpost  we  cannot  long  main- 
tain the  citadel.  Then  rally  to  the  rescue." 


PER  ASPERA.  175 

The  "  Appeal  "  was  printed  in  "  De  Bow's  Re- 
view "  for  August,  1856,  and  is  much  soberer,  less 
confident  in  tone,  than  an  article  which  appeared 
two  months  earlier  in  the  same  magazine  under 
the  title  "  Kansas  a  Slave  State." 

"  Slaves  will  now  yield  a  greater  profit  in  Kansas," 
said  the  writer,  "  either  to  hire  out  or  cultivate  the  soil, 
than  any  other  place.  .  .  .  Those  who  have  brought 
their  slaves  here  are  reaping  a  rich  reward,  .  .  .  and 
feel  as  secure  in  their  property  here  as  in  Kentucky  or 
Missouri.  .  .  .  Why  it  is  that  more  of  our  friends  in 
the  old  states  have  not  brought  their  slaves  with  them 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  divine,  unless  the  falsehoods  and 
threats  of  the  abolitionists  have  frightened  them.  .  .  . 
Should  Kansas  be  made  a  slave  state  ?  We  say  that 
location,  climate,  soil,  productions,  value  of  slave  labor 
the  good  of  the  master  and  slave  — all  conspire  and  cry 
aloud  that  it  should  be.  .  .  .  The  squatters,  too,  have 
already  said  three  successive  times,  at  the  polls,  that 
Kansas  should  be  a  slave  state.  But  if  all  this  is  not 
enough,  then  we  say,  without  fear  of  successful  contra- 
diction, that  Kansas  must  be  a  slave  state  or  thg  Union 
will  be  dissolved.  ...  If  Kansas  is  not  made  a  slave 
state,  it  requires  no  sage  to  foretell  that  .  .  .  there  will 
never  be  another  slave  state.  .  .  .  Can  Kansas  be  made 
a  slave  state  ?  Thus  far  the  pro-slavery  party  has  tri- 
umphed in  Kansas  in  spite  of  the  abolitionists  and 
their  Emigrant  Aid  Societies.  .  .  .  We  have  peaceably 
whipped  them  at  the  polls  and  forced  them  to  beg  for 
quarter  in  the  field,  and  proven  to  the  world  that  truth 
and  justice  are  on  our  side.  .  .  .  The  stake  is  surely 


176  KANSAS. 

worth  a  struggle;  and  if  not  won  by -the  South,  God 
alone  can  foresee  the  evils  that  are  to  follow.  .  .  .  Will 
the  South  come  to  the  rescue  and  make  Kansas  a  slave 
state  ?  We  are  sure  she  will.  We  know  her  people, 
and  when  once  aroused  .  .  .  they  will  fly  to  the  rescue 
of  their  friends  in  Kansas,  where  all  the  combined 
forces  of  abolitionism  will  quail  and  skulk  back  to  the 
dark  sinks  and  hiding-places  from  which  they  came  by 
the  assistance  of  the  aid  societies.  Such  creatures  can- 
not stand  before  the  forces  of  honest  freemen.  .  .  .  Kan- 
sas should,  can,  and  will  be  a  slave  state." 

These  papers  and  others  which  were  issued 
sent  a  spasm  of  excitement  through  the  South, 
but  received  no  such  response  of  partisan  immi- 
gration as  streamed  into  Kansas  from  the  North. 

With  the  sack  of  Lawrence,  the  dispersion  of 
the  Topeka  legislature,  and  the  flight  or  capture  of 
prominent  free-state  leaders,  the  territory  plunged 
into  chaos.  So  far  from  befriending  anti-slavery 
interests,  the  Pottawatomie  massacre  at  once  fo- 
mented and  embittered  the  struggle.  A  period  of 
lawlessness  and  marauding  now  set  in  that  left 
stains  on  both  parties  as  inevitably  as  the  snail 
slimes  its  track.  Which  faction  surpassed  the  other 
in  misdeeds  it  would  be  hard  to  say.  Free- state 
men  seized  the  opportunity  to  rid  the  territory  of 
obnoxious  persons.  The  experiences  of  Rev.  Mar- 
tin White,  for  instance,  were  far  from  griefless. 
His  troubles  dated  back  to  a  public  meeting  at 
Osawatomie  April  16th,  1856,  which  passed  resolu- 


PER  ASP  ERA.  177 

tions  against  the  payment  of  taxes  levied  by  the 
territorial  legislature. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  he  crossed  swords 
with  Old  John  Brown.  White  was  a  furious, 
unmeasured  partisan,  and  made  himself  so  un- 
popular that  on  the  night  of  August  13th  free- 
state  men  assailed  his  cabin.  "  I  was  frequently 
menaced  and  threatened  with  certain  and  imme- 
diate destruction,"  he  testified  before  the  Strickler 
Commission  October  23d,  1857,  "  and  was  once 
attacked  in  my  dwelling  by  a  body  of  armed 
men,  who  were  repulsed  and  driven  away  after  a 
contest  of  half  an  hour  "  — retiring  with  a  booty 
of  seven  horses.  "  A  body  of  armed  men  com- 
manded by  [J.  C.]  Holmes  came  to  my  premises," 
said  one  of  White's  sons.  ..."  They  took  what 
they  wanted,  and  inquired  how  many  men  were  at 
my  father's,  saying  that  when  they  got  old  Martin 
White  and  killed  him  they  would  have  all  the 
pro-slavery  men  in  the  neighborhood."  Such  was 
the  temper  exhibited  by  "  the  outlaws  and  follow- 
ers of  Lane  and  Brown  "  that  on  the  14th  of  Au- 
gust the  Rev.  Martin  White  fled  precipitately  to 
Missouri.  "  In  consequence  of  their  manifest  de- 
termination to  take  my  life,"  he  said,  "  I  was 
forced  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  from  the  territory." 

The  pro-slavery  party  had  one  great  advantage: 
the  most  practicable  avenues  of  communication 
and  traffic  were  in  their  possession.  They  in- 
fested the  country  adjacent  to  Lawrence  and  To- 

12 


178  KANSAS. 

peka,  so  that  these  towns  might  be  loosely  consid- 
ered in  a  state  of  siege.  No  doubt  scarcity  of 
provisions  in  some  degree  stimulated  the  maraud- 
ing habit,  but  it  had  little  need  of  artificial  culti- 
vation. 

Topeka  felt  the  pressure  of  the  blockade  much 
less  than  Lawrence,  yet  it  was  the  centre  of  a  pros- 
perous series  of  maraudings  upon  the  surrounding 
country.  So  great  was  the  enterprise  and  success 
in  what  one  of  the  victims  called  "  the  roguing 
business  "  that  few  pro-slavery  men  of  the  neigh- 
borhood escaped  spoliation.  Free-state  depreda- 
tors, in  larger  or  smaller  gangs,  scoured  the  re- 
gion, filling  the  air  with  profanity,  intimidating 
pro-slavery  settlers,  shooting  at  those  who  were 
not  sufficiently  docile,  and  plundering  right  and 
left.  A  curious  observer  has  chronicled  the  con- 
tents of  a  single  foray-wagon  :  green  corn  in  the 
ear,  surmounted  by  a  cooking-stove,  a  crib-cradle, 
a  dining-table,  clothing,  bedding,  and  a  great  va- 
riety of  miscellaneous  articles.  Tecumseh  in  par- 
ticular, a  town  just  east  of  Topeka,  was  visited  by 
"  robberies,  plunderings,  and  pilferings."  A  wit- 
ness, who  testified  before  the  Strickler  Commis- 
sion, happened  to  be  in  Topeka  at  the  height  of 
the  freebooting  season,  and  "  saw  a  company  of 
men  and  teams  leave  town  and  go  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Tecumseh  "  for  the  indefinite  purpose  of 
obtaining  provisions.  Just  after  the  raiding  of 
that  village,  again  in  Topeka,  "  I  saw  quite  a  large 


PER  ASP  ERA.  179 

amount  of  goods,  of  various  kinds,  being  divided 
out  among  the  crowd  present.  ...  I  was  invited 
among  others  to  come  up  and  take  part,  and 
finally  did  select  a  broom  and  meal  sieve,  thinking 
that  should  I  ever  find  the  proper  owners  .  .  . 
I  would  pay  them."  This  conscientious  mortal 
actually  carried  out  his  purpose,  and  paid  the  Te- 
cumseh  shop-keeper  —  an  event  without  parallel 
in  the  territorial  annals. 

The  pro-slavery  beleaguerment  of  Lawrence 
assumed  a  more  serious  aspect.  In  the  vicinity 
several  block-houses,  well  situated  as  points  of 
rendezvous  for  operations  against  the  town,  had 
been  fortified  and  garrisoned.  There  was  one  of 
these  semi-forts  at  Franklin ;  another  on  Wash- 
ington Creek,  called  Fort  Saunders ;  another  near 
Lecompton,  known  as  Fort  Titus.  These  "  nests 
of  land-pirates  "  succeeded  in  cutting  off  supplies 
to  such  an  extent  that  food  became  scarce  at 
Lawrence.  "  The  boys  lived  for  days  on  ground 
oats,"  said  Captain  J.  B.  Abbott,  of  the  Blue 
Mound  Infantry  —  "  on  oatmeal  unbolted  and  un- 
sifted. It  was  like  eating  hay."  S.  W.  Eldridge 
gave  the  result  of  special  inquiries  in  the  matter 
of  food-supplies  before  the  second  Board  of  Com- 
missioners, appointed  by  the  territorial  legislature 
in  1859  to  reopen  the  matter  of  claims  for  losses 
in  the  border  troubles. 

"  On  the  14th  of  August,  1856,"  he  said,  "  or  there- 
abouts, I  was  delegated  to  ascertain  the  quantity  of  sup- 


180  KANSAS. 

plies  in  the  town.  .  .  .  The  soldiers  and  citizens  .  .  . 
assembled  in  Lawrence  were  reduced  to  the  lowest  point 
of  sustenance  :  many  of  them  for  weeks  together  had 
nothing  to  subsist  on  but  green  corn,  squashes,  water- 
melons, and  other  vegetables ;  hundreds  had  no  flour, 
meal,  or  meat  of  any  kind  for  days  and  days  together. 
Sickness  prevailed  among  those  subjected  to  such  a  diet. 
In  Lawrence  a  large  proportion  of  all  here  assembled 
were  reduced  to  straits,  and  as  a  mattef  of  necessity 
and  self-preservation  .  .  .  the  surrounding  country  as 
well  as  the  city  itself  had  to  furnish  such  means  of 
sustenance  as  the  wants  of  the  hungry  and  the  neces- 
sities of  the  sick  demanded.  On  the  day  mentioned  I 
went  to  every  store  in  town  and  every  supposed  depot 
to  ascertain  what  amount  of  flour  or  meal  was  on  hand, 
exclusive  of  such  limited  supplies  as  might  be  in  dwell- 
ing-houses for  temporary  family  use ;  after  a  thorough 
search  and  examination  made  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  condition  of  the  town  and  to  calculate  how 
long  it  could  sustain  the  existing  pressure,  I  found  there 
were  but  fourteen  sacks  of  flour —  I  repeat  it,  only  four- 
teen sacks  of  flour  in  town  that  could  have  been  bought 
for  public  or  private  use  ;  could  find  no  meal,  bacon,  or 
beef  of  any  consequence  ;  stocks  were  exhausted." 

Offensive  operations  were  first  directed  against 
Franklin.  On  the  night  of  June  4th  a  handful  of 
men  from  Lawrence  crept  into  that  village  with 
the  stealth  of  Indians,  began  a  brisk  rifle-prac- 
tice in  the  darkness,  which  accomplished  nothing 
beyond  killing  one  of  the  defenders  and  wounding 
several.  With  the  approach  of  day  the  raiders 


PER  ASPERA.  181 

beat  a  successful  retreat.  But  there  was  a  second, 
a  more  elaborate  and  effectual  attack.  Eighty-one 
men,  accompanied  by  Lane,  fresh  from  Nebraska, 
to  a  point  sufficiently  near  Franklin  for  agreeable 
spectatorship,  sallied  forth,  August  13th,  after 
dark,  to  the  attack.  The  block-house  was  flanked 
on  either  side  by  a  log-cabin  ;  one  serving  as  a 
post-office,  the  other  as  a  hotel.  Under  cover  of 
night  the  slender  army  of  investment  got  into  po- 
sition, and  summoned  the  entire  compound  struc- 
ture to  surrender.  The  proposition  was  indig- 
nantly declined.  Thereupon  followed  three  hours 
of  musketry  —  to  no  purpose  beyond  the  hurting 
of  a  few  men.  Tiring  of  the  waste  of  ammuni- 
tion, the  assailants  hit  upon  the  expedient  of  ig- 
niting a  load  of  hay  and  wheeling  it  against  the 
house  of  the  Franklin  postmaster,  "  with  whom," 
as  pro-slavery  writers  put  it,  "  a  party  of  Southern 
men  were  boarding."  The  fiery  battering-ram 
succeeded  far  better  than  Sharpe's  rifles.  "  When 
the  flames  burst  forth,"  an  eyewitness  relates, 
"  the  poltroons  cried  lustily  for  quarter."  Loop- 
holes became  silent,  and  on  an  entrance  being 
effected  a  brass  field-piece  and  a  few  muskets  were 
found,  but  no  "  boarders."  Some  of  the  assailants 
thought  that  a  postmaster  who  kept  the  sort  of 
"  boarders  "  found  in  Franklin  should  be  made  an 
example  of.  "  Oh,  don't  shoot  my  husband — don't 
shoot  him,"  pleaded  his  wife.  "  He  deserves  to 
die ;  he  's  a  great  villain,"  somebody  blurted  out. 


182  KANSAS. 

"  I  know  it,"  was  the  quick  retort,  "  and  that 's 
just  the  reason  why  I  don't  want  him  shot." 

Two  days  afterwards  there  was  a  reconnais- 
sance upon  Fort  Saunders,  the  intrenched  "  den  of 
thieves  "  on  Washington  Creek.  The  murder  of 
Major  D.  S.  Hoyt  by  members  of  the  gang  was 
the  immediate  occasion  of  the  expedition.  Four 
hundred  men,  with  the  cannon  captured  at  Frank- 
lin, marched  against  the  post,  but  the  garrison  fled 
on  their  approach.  The  block-house  stood  near  a 
wooded  gulch.  Finding  it  deserted,  Lane,  who 
was  nominally  in  command,  shouted,  "  The  devils 
are  in  the  ravine  —  charge."  Into  the  ravine  some 
of  the  troopers  dashed,  but  found  nobody  there. 

After  this  easy  success  the  expedition  went  into 
camp  on  Rock  Creek.  For  reasons  which  he  did 
not  take  the  trouble  to  explain,  Lane,  with  half  a 
dozen  companions,  set  out  at  once  for  Nebraska, 
though  less  than  a  week  had  elapsed  since  his  ar- 
rival from  the  North.  On  his  departure  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Captain  Samuel  Walker. 
There  was  considerable  discussion  as  to  what  more, 
if  anything,  should  be  done.  Captain  Walker  ad- 
vised the  expedition  to  disband.  A  part  of  the 
men  followed  his  suggestion  and  started  for  Law- 
rence, while  he  himself  went  to  the  cabin  of  a 
friend  some  miles  in  the  direction  of  Lecompton. 
In  the  evening  rumors  came  to  the  men  who  re- 
mained on  Rock  Creek  —  in  the  mood  of  further 
campaigning  —  that  free -state  prisoners  at  Le- 


PER  ASPERA.  183 

compton  were  in  peril  of  the  gibbet.  They  re- 
solved to  attempt  a  rescue,  and  sent  a  runner  to 
notify  the  men  who  were  returning  to  Lawrence. 
Nothing  of  importance  occurred  until  the  expedi- 
tion reached  a  point  within  six  or  eight  miles  of 
Lecompton,  when  the  advanced  guard  encountered 
Colonel  Titus  and  his  band,  who  were  given  to  the 
habit  of  night-raids.  A  skirmish  took  place,  which 
frustrated  the  plan  for  surprising  Lecompton. 
Captain  Walker,  who  had  been  summoned,  per- 
suaded the  expedition  out  of  attempting  anything 
more,  and  went  to  his  own  cabin,  which  was  in 
the  neighborhood,  for  what  little  of  the  night  re- 
mained. The  Topeka,  Lecompton,  and  Lawrence 
stage  line  passed  his  door.  In  the  morning  the 
coach  stopped,  and  the  driver,  taking  Walker 
aside,  said,  "  I  've  got  Titus'  wife  and  two  children 
in  the  stage.  If  you  want  to  get  the  d— d  scoun- 
drel, now  is  your  time."  Colonel  Titus,  who  had 
distinguished  himself  by  great  activity  in  harrying 
free-state  people,  was  probably  the  most  obnox- 
ious border  ruffian  in  the  territory.  Walker  was 
personally  anxious  to  catch  him,  and  the  halted 
expedition  quickly  broke  camp.  Fifty  horsemen 
dashed  on  in  three  divisions  to  surround  the  stout 
log-cabin  which  went  by  the  name  of  Fort  Titus, 
and  cut  off  communications  with  Lecompton,  while 
the  infantiy  made  what  speed  they  might.  Fed- 
eral troops  were  plainly  in  sight,  but  Major  John 
Sedgwick  privately  hinted  to  Walker  a  few  days 


184  KANSAS. 

before  that  if  he  wished  to  nab  Titus,  and  would 
make  quick  work  of  it,  his  dragoons  might  not  be 
able  to  reach  the  block-house  in  time  to  interfere. 
Walker's  horsemen  got  in  position  and  opened  fire 
with  Sharpe's  carbines.  Titus  replied  spiritedly, 
killed  one  of  the  assailants,  and  wounded  others. 
Rifle-balls  buried  themselves  harmlessly  in  the 
walls  of  the  cabin,  but  the  arrival  of  footmen 
with  a  six-pound  gun  put  a  new  face  upon  affairs. 
The  cannonade  was  plainly  audible  in  the  federal 
camp  scarcely  a  mile  distant.  Mrs.  Robinson  says 
in  her  "  Kansas  "  that  a  stray  shot  whizzed  past 
the  tent  where  the  free-state  prisoners  were  con- 
fined. After  a  brief  bombardment  a  white  flag 
appeared,  and  the  whole  garrison  of  seventeen 
men  capitulated.  Colonel  Titus  presented  a  sorry 
sight  as  he  emerged  from  his  battered  domicile  — 
coatless,  covered  with  blood,  wounded  in  the  hand, 
face,  and  shoulder.  The  assailants  fully  purposed 
to  kill  Titus  if  they  caught  him  —  to  such  an  in- 
tensity had  the  bitterness  against  him  mounted. 

"  But  the  cuss,"  said  Captain  Walker  to  the  writer, 
"got  me  in  the  right. place  when  he  surrendered.  He 
saw  the  devil  was  to  pay,  and  made  a  personal  appeal  to 
me.  '  You  have  children,'  he  pleaded,  '  and  so  have  I. 
For  God's  sake  save  my  life.'  Somehow  I  could  n't  re- 
sist. We  had  n't  heen  on  good  terms  at  all.  Not  long 
before  the  rascal  had  sent  handbills  all  about  offering 
a  reward  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  my  head  '  off  or  on 
my  shoulders.'  I  noticed  one  of  them  plastered  upon 


PER  ASPERA.  185 

the  side  of  his  cabin  while  he  was  talking  to  me.  The 
boys  swore  they  would  kill  him.  One  of  them  was  so 
obstreperous  that  I  had  to  knock  him  down  before  he 
would  be  quiet.  At  last  I  got  mad  and  said,  '  There 
Titus  sits.  If  any  one  of  you  is  brute  enough  to  shoot 
him,  shoot.'  Not  a  man  raised  his  gun." 

Two  inmates  of  Fort  Titus  were  killed,  and  two 
•wounded.  Among  the  free-state  men  the  casual- 
ties were  one  killed  and  six  wounded.  Titus  was 
taken  to  Lawrence,  where  a  fresh  rage  to  dispatch 
him  broke  out,  but  wiser  counsels  prevailed,  and 
the  mob  was  baffled. 

Sunday,  August  17th,  Governor  Shannon,  ac- 
companied by  Major  Sedgwick  and  Dr.  Aristides 
Rodrigue,  postmaster  at  Lecompton,  rode  to  Law- 
rence in  the  interest  of  peace-making.  Then  oc- 
curred an  unwonted  spectacle.  After  negotia- 
tions consuming  almost  the  entire  day  a  treaty  of 
peace  was  consummated,  involving  an  exchange  of 
prisoners  and  other  acts  customary  only  among 
recognized  belligerents  standing  upon  an  equal 
footing;  the  high  contracting  parties  being  on  the 
one  hand  the  federal  government  in  the  person  of 
Governor  Shannon,  and  on  the  other  a  minority 
of  the  sub-committee  chosen  out  of  the  larger 
committee  appointed  at  the  miscellaneous  Topeka 
convention  July  4th  —  Colonel  James  Blood  and 
William  Hutchinson,  correspondent  of  the  "  New 
York  Times."  In  this  transaction  free-state  au- 
dacity reached  the  high-water  mark  of  the  Waka- 


186  KANSAS. 

rusa  war  treaty.  The  United  States  stipulated  to 
return  the  cannon  captured  by  Sheriff  Jones  at 
Lawrence  May  21st,  to  liberate  five  or  six  men 
arrested  for  participation  in  the  attack  on  Frank- 
lin, while  the  minority  of  the  sub-committee 
agreed  to  release  Titus  and  his  men. 

When  the  treaty  had  been  arranged,  Governor 
Shannon  attempted  to  address  a  street-mob,  com- 
posed of  recent  immigrants  from  Chicago  and  else- 
where rather  than  of  residents  of  Lawrence.  There 
was  still  another  outbreak  of  furor  for  shooting 
Titus.  Major  Sedgwick,  who  was  not  given  to 
alarms  nor  exaggerations,  described  the  excite- 
ment as  "  almost  uncontrollable."  When  Gover- 
nor Shannon  began  to  speak  a  tremendous  yell 
went  up  from  the  spectators,  and  revolvers  were 
pulled  out  to  shoot  him.  Walker  leaped  upon  a 
horse,  and,  drawing  his  pistols,  dashed  into  the 
street,  shouting,  "  The  first  man  who  insults  the 
governor  does  it  over  my  dead  body !  He  shan't 
be  insulted.  Boys,  I  'm  with  you,  but  he  shan't 
be  insulted  !  "  Instant  silence  followed.  Finally 
some  one  said,  "  We  '11  hear  him  as  Shannon,  but 
not  as  governor !  "  The  speech  then  went  on. 

When  Governor  Shannon  returned  to  Lecomp- 
ton  he  assuredly  had  occasion  for  writing  the  ner- 
vous letter  which  he  sent  off  at  once  to  the  de- 
partment commander :  "  This  place  is  in  a  most 
dangerous  and  critical  situation.  .  .  .  We  are 
threatened  with  utter  extermination  by  a  large 


PER  ASPERA.  187 

body  of  free-state  men.  ...  I  have  just  returned 
from  Lawrence,  where  I  have  been  this  day  with 
the  view  of  procuring  the  release  of  nineteen  pris- 
oners that  were  taken.  I  saw  in  that  place  at 
least  eight  hundred  men  who  manifested  a  fixed 
purpose  to  destroy  this  town.  .  .  .  The  women 
and  children  have  been  mostly  sent  across  the 
river,  and  there  is  a  general  panic  among  the 
people." 

With  the  treaty  at  Lawrence,  Governor  Shan- 
non's official  career  substantially  closed.  "  I  am 
unwilling  to  perform  the  duties  of  governor  of  this 
territory  any  longer,"  he  wrote  President  Pierce 
August  18th.  "  You  will  therefore  consider  my 
official  connection  with  this  territory  at  an  end." 
He  gave  mortal  offense  to  the  pro-slavery  leaders 
in  the  latter  days  of  his  administration  by  declin- 
ing to  be  a  mere  sounding-board  for  their  policies. 
Like  Reeder  he  left  the  territory  in  fear  for  his 
life.  His  success  had  scarcely  been  greater  than 
that  of  his  predecessor.  "  Govern  the  Kansas  of 
1855  and  '56,"  he  once  exclaimed  in  later  years, 
when  he  had  become  a  resident  of  Lawrence  and 
territorial  unpopularity  had  modulated  into  uni- 
versal respect,  — "  you  might  as  well  have  at- 
tempted to  govern  the  devil  in  hell !  " 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  pro-slavery  people 
were  idle  during  this  interval  of  freshened  free- 
state  activity.  Though  scarcely  taking  the  lead, 
they  accomplished  considerable  marauding,  which, 


188  KANSAS. 

as  usual,  consisted  in  highway  robbery  and  the 
pillage  of  cabins  interspaced  with  an  occasional 
murder.  In  the  practical  conduct  of  such  matters 
there  is  wearisome  sameness  of  method  and  detail, 
like 

"  A  belt  of  mirrors  round  a  taper's  flame." 

At  Leavenworth  there  belched  forth  a  perfect 
chaos  of  pro-slavery  outrages,  which  held  on  into 
the  early  days  of  September  —  a  Missouri  ruffian 
making  and  winning  a  bet  of  six  dollars  against  a 
pair  of  boots  that  he  would  scalp  an  abolitionist 
within  two  hours;  William  Phillips,  the  lawyer 
who  fared  roughly  at  the  hands  of  a  mob  some 
months  before,  assassinated, 

"  With  twenty  trenched  gashes  on  his  head, 
The  least  a  death  to  nature," 

one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  women,  and  children 
driven  upon  river-steamers,  leaving  all  their  ef- 
fects behind  as  spoils  for  Captain  Emory's  eight 
hundred  pro-slavery  regulators,  who  swore  they 
would  expel  every  abolitionist  from  the  region. 

But  the  larger  Missouri  activities  awoke  once 
more.  August  16th,  the  day  when  Fort  Titus  was 
destroyed,  Atchison  and  the  pro-slavery  junta,  in 
an  address  to  the  public,  announced  the  opening 
of  civil  war,  and  urged  all  friends  of  law  and  order 
"  who  are  not  prepared  to  see  their  friends  butch- 
ered, to  be  themselves  driven  from  their  homes,  to 
rally  instantly  to  the  rescue."  The  border  roused 
by  this  call,  which  pro-slavery  newspapers  caught 


•.. 


PER  ASP ERA.  189 

up  with  various  and  inflammatory  exaggerations, 
again  flew  to  arms.  But  the  swelling  hordes  of 
armed  men  paused  on  the  Missouri  side  of  the  line. 
Governor  Shannon,  who  had  not  forgotten  his  ex- 
periences with  the  militia  in  the  Wakarusa  war, 
declined  to  give  them  any  legal  pretext  for  cross- 
ing it.  On  the  21st  of  August  Secretary  Woodson 
succeeded  him  as  acting  governor,  and  the  halted 
but  now  jubilant  Missourians  prepared  to  advance. 
For  a  third  time  their  ideal  executive  was  in 
power.  "  If  Mr.  Atchison  and  his  party  had  had 
the  direction  of  affairs,"  reported  General  P.  F. 
Smith,  who  succeeded  Colonel  Sumner  in  com- 
mand of  the  department,  "  they  could  not  have 
ordered  them  more  to  suit  his  purpose."  Wood- 
son  bestirred  himself  to  issue  a  proclamation, 
which  appeared  on  the  25th,  declaring  the  terri- 
tory "  in  a  state  of  open  insurrection  and  rebel- 
lion," and  calling  upon  all  patriotic  citizens  to  rally 
for  the  defense  of  law  and  for  the  punishment  of 
traitors.  The  pamphleteering  cabal  of  Missouri 
managers  reinforced  Woodson's  proclamation  by  a 
new  manifesto.  Now  an  irreparable  blow  can  be 
delivered.  The  noble  Woodson  occupies  the  exec- 
utive chair,  and  there  is  a  clear  field.  What  the 
character  and  policy  of  the  next  governor  may  be 
is  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  He  may  prove  "  a 
second  edition  of  corruption  or  imbecility."  Such 
was  the  energy  and  dispatch  with  which  prepara- 
tions were  pushed,  that  Atchison  moved  into  Kan- 


190  KANSAS. 

sas  August  29th  and  encamped  on.  Bull  Creek,  fif- 
teen miles  north  of  Osawatomie. 

To  Dutch  Henry's  Crossing  must  be  charged 
much  of  the  havoc  and  anarchy  in  which  the  Kan- 
sas of  1856  weltered.  That  affair  was  a  fester- 
ing, rankling,  envenomed  memory  among  pro-slav- 
ery men.  It  set  afoot  retaliatory  violences,  which 
for  a  while  were  successfully  matched,  and  more 
than  matched,  by  their  opponents,  but  finally  is- 
sued in  a  total  military  collapse  of  the  free-state 
cause.  Now  Osawatomie,  "the  headquarters  of 
Old  Brown,"  lay  within  easy  reach  of  Atchison's 
camp.  General  John  W.  Reid,  with  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  took  in  hand  the  business  of  de- 
stroying it.  He  approached  the  town  about  dawn, 
August  30th,  under  pilotage  of  the  Rev.  Martin 
White,  whose  experiences  two  weeks  before  had 
not  served  to  promote  the  passive  virtues.  On 
the  outskirts  of  the  village,  the  expedition  met 
Frederick  Brown,  a  son  of  John  Brown,  whom 
the  divine  shot  dead  — "  the  ball  passing  clean 
through  the  body." 

The  entire  force  available  for  the  defense  of 
Osawatomie  was  only  forty-one  men,  seventeen 
belonging  to  John  Brown's  band,  and  the  remain- 
ing twenty-four  divided  between  the  companies 
of  Dr.  W.  W.  Updegraff  and  Captain  Cline. 
These  twoscore  men,  equal  to  nothing  more  than 
a  resolute  show  of  fight,  took  post  near  the  town 
and  the  line  of  Reid's  approach,  among  trees  and 


PER  ASPERA.  191 

•underbrush  that  skirted  the  Marais  des  Cygnes. 
When  the  enemy  came  within  range,  they  opened 
fire  and  caused  some  temporary  confusion.  The 
Missourians  unlimbered  a  field-piece  and  belched 
grape-shot  at  the  thicket,  which  crashed  harm- 
lessly above  the  heads  of  the  concealed  rifle- 
men. Tiring  of  the  inconsequent  bombardment, 
they  charged  and  brought  the  skirmish  to  an 
abrupt  conclusion.  Only  one  practicable  course 
then  remained  for  the  handful  of  men  in  the 
thicket,  and  that  was  to  get  out  of  the  way  with 
all  possible  dispatch.  This  they  did  without 
standing  upon  the  order  of  their  going,  and  scat- 
tared  here  and  there  after  an  every-man-for-him- 
self  fashion.  Six  free-state  men  were  killed,  in- 
cluding assassinations  before  and  after  the  fight, 
and  three  wounded.  Reid's  loss  was  probably 
not  more  than  five  killed  —  in  his  own  account  of 
the  affair  the  number  is  put  at  two  —  and  a  few 
wounded.  Only  four  cabins  escaped  the  torch, 
so  completely  did  the  raiders  accomplish  their 
mission. 

There  was  a  retaliatory  stir  among  the  free- 
state  clans.  Lane,  after  two  weeks'  absence  in 
Nebraska  or  elsewhere,  suddenly  reappeared.  He 
gathered  up  the  available  fighting  material  about 
Lawrence  and  Topeka,  amounting  to  three  hun- 
dred men,  and  marched  against  the  camp  on  Bull 
Creek.  Nothing  came  of  the  expedition.  The 
hostile  parties  approached,  surveyed  each  other, 


192  KANSAS. 

exchanged  a  few  scattering  shots,. -and  retired  — 
Atchison  toward  Missouri,  and  Lane  toward  Law- 
rence. 

A  strong  counter-irritant  activity  burst  forth 
from  Lecompton  while  Lane  was  campaigning 
against  Bull  Creek.  In  two  days  seven  cabins 
belonging  to  free-state  men  of  the  neighborhood 
were  given  to  the  flames.  Sheriffs  drove  a  lively 
traffic  in  arrests  and  confiscations.  Acting-gov- 
ernor Woodson,  eager  to  make  the  most  of  his 
brief  sunshine,  ordered  Colonel  Cooke  "  to  invest 
the  town  of  Topeka,  and  disarm  all  the  insurrec- 
tionists or  aggressive  invaders  against  the  organ- 
ized government  of  the  territory,  to  be  found  at  or 
near  that  point,  retaining  them  as  prisoners,  sub- 
ject to  the  order  of  the  marshal  of  the  territory. 
All  their  breastworks,  forts,  or  fortifications  should 
be  leveled  to  the  ground."  Though  the  sins  of 
Topeka  were  just  then  at  their  worst,  as  the 
maraudings  heretofore  mentioned  were  in  prog- 
ress, yet  Colonel  Cooke  flatly  declined  to  execute 
the  order,  and  was  fully  sustained  by  General 
Smith  in  his  disobedience. 

Pro-slavery  enterprise  at  Lecompton  led  to  a 
formidable  expedition  against  that  town.  The 
attacking  force  was  divided  into  two  columns. 
One  column  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  led  by 
Colonel  J.  A  Harvey,  marched  up  the  north  bank 
of  the  Kansas  River  September  4th,  and  reached 
its  assigned  position  opposite  Lecompton  in  the 


PER  ASPERA.  193 

evening,  to  cut  off  retreat  in  that  direction.  Har- 
vey waited  anxiously  but  vainly  through  a  cold, 
rainy  night,  listening  for  the  guns  of  the  other 
column  which  was  to  assail  the  town.  Then  he 
concluded  the  expedition  had  been  abandoned, 
and  returned  to  Lawrence. 

But  the  main  body  —  three  hundred  men  with 
two  pieces  of  artillery,  commanded  by  Lane  in 
person,  and  assigned  to  the  southern  route  — de- 
layed moving  twenty-four  hours,  and  did  not  reach 
Lecompton  until  the  afternoon  of  September  5th. 
The  advent  of  the  belated  column  threw  that  town 
into  a  spasm  of  terror.  Acting-governor  Wood- 
son,  territorial  officials,  and  private  citizens  all 
appealed  to  Colonel  Cooke  for  protection.  The 
federal  troops  encountered  the  advanced  guard  of 
Lane's  column,  under  command  of  Captain  Samuel 
Walker,  about  a  mile  from  the  village.  "  What 
have  you  come  for?"  Colonel  Cooke  demanded. 
Walker  replied  that  they  "  came  to  release  pris- 
oners "  —  men  seized  for  offenses  at  Franklin  and 
elsewhere  —  "  and  to  have  their  rights."  Collect- 
ing the  officers  —  twenty  or  thirty  responded  to 
his  request  for  audience  —  Colonel  Cooke  ad- 
dressed them  at  some  length  on  the  condition  of 
affairs.  He  deprecated  the  demonstration  against 
Lecompton,  since  the  Missourians  were  dispers- 
ing, the  prisoners  about  to  be  set  at  liberty, 
and  things  generally  going  in  their  favor.  The 
conference  issued  peacefully,  and  the  expedition 

13 


194  KANSAS. 

returned  to  Lawrence  without  firing  a  shot.  Lane 
took  no  part  in  the  negotiations.  When  federal 
dragoons  appeared  he  seized  a  musket,  and  stepped 
into  the  ranks  as  a  common  soldier.  Rumors  of 
his  presence  reached  Sheriff  Jones,  who  clamored 
for  his  arrest.  Woodson  proposed  to  write  out 
a  requisition,  but  on  second  thought  it  was  con- 
cluded to  let  him  alone.  Colonel  Cooke  in  his 
official  account  lapsed  into  a  forgivable  rhetoric 
of  congratulation.  "  Lecompton  and  its  defend- 
ers," he  said,  "  were  outnumbered,  and  evidently 
in  the  power  of  a  determined  attack.  Americans 
thus  stood  face  to  face  in  hostile  array  and  most 
earnest  of  purpose.  As  I  marched  back  over  these 
beautiful  hills,  all  crowned  with  moving  troops 
and  armed  men,  ...  I  rejoiced  that  I  had  stayed 
the  madness  of  the  hour,  and  prevented,  on  almost 
any  terms,  the  fratricidal  onslaught  of  country- 
men and  fellow-citizens." 

Woodson's  lease  of  power  ran  only  three  weeks, 
but  in  that  brief  period  lie  drew  over  the  territory 
the  sorrowfulest  night  that  had  settled  upon  it. 
Free-state  men,  who  appealed  to  him,  received 
very  cavalier  treatment.  Even  that  distinguished 
minority  of  a  sub-committee,  which  captured  Gov- 
ernor Shannon,  could  not  tame  him.  "  Your 
troubles,"  Woodson  wrote  September  7th,  in  reply 
to  a  remonstrant  communication,  are  "  the  natural 
and  inevitable  result  of  the  present  lawless  and 
revolutionary  position  in  which  you  have,  of  your 


PER  AS  PER  A.  195 

own  accord,  placed  yourselves."  The  minority  of 
a  sub-committee  retorted  with  spirit :  "  You  have 
left  us  no  alternative  but  to  perish  or  fight.  .  .  . 
You  have  called  into  the  field  under  the  name  of 
militia  a  set  of  thieves,  robbers,  house-burners,  and 
murderers  to  prey  upon  the  people  you  have  sworn 
to  protect.  This  is  the  position  you  occupy  be- 
fore the  country  and  a  just  God,  and  on  you,  not 
on  us,  must  rest  the  responsibility." 

The  only  cheerful  event  that  illuminates  Wood- 
son's  inhospitable  three  weeks'  incumbency,  and 
for  that  no  credit  accrues  to  him,  was  the  release 
on  bail,  September  10th,  of  Governor  Robinson, 
after  an  imprisonment  of  four  months.  This  con- 
summation was  reached  principally  through  the 
unremitting  efforts  of  A.  A.  Lawrence,  who  had 
connections  of  family  affiliation  as  well  as  of  per- 
sonal friendship  with  President  Pierce.  "  Hav- 
ing been  the  means  of  sending  Dr.  Robinson  to 
Kansas,"  Lawrence  wrote  August  13th,  1856,  "  I 
feel  bound  to  take  every  measure  to  secure  his 
release.  .  .  .  Mr.  Pomeroy,  of  Kansas,  is  now  in 
Washington,  and  has  taken  from  me  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Pierce,  with  whom  he  has  had  several  inter- 
views ;  but  in  regard  to  the  prisoners  he  has 
accomplished  nothing."  Pomeroy,  in  his  report  of 
negotiations,  represents  the  president  as  discours- 
ing copiously  "  about  *  disobedience  to  law,  and 
punishment  as  the  necessary  consequence.'  I  told 
him  there  was  no  treason  ...  in  Kansas.  He 


1 96  KANSAS. 

was  very  severe  on  the  '  unauthorized  '  free-state 
movement  in  Kansas.  Both  of  us  got  hot  and 
showed  some  passion.  I  content  myself  by  feel- 
ing that  I  did  not  show  more  than  he  did.  .  .  . 
On  the  whole,  the  interview  about  the  prisoners 
was  very  unsatisfactory."  The  untoward  state  of 
negotiations  reported  by  Pomeroy  only  stimulated 
Lawrence  to  more  vigorous  mediatory  efforts, 
which  shortly  brought  about  a  hopeful  change  in 
the  aspect  of  affairs.  "  Some  action  was  to  have 
been  taken  yesterday  at  their  [the  cabinet's] 
meeting,"  he  writes  early  in  September,  "  and  a 
favorable  result  may  be  looked  for  at  once.  It  is 
said  that  a  letter  was  received  from  a  lady  —  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  prisoners,  and  probably  Mrs. 
Robinson  —  which  put  the  case  in  a  favorable 
light,  and  being  read  aloud  by  Mrs.  Pierce  to  her 
husband  it  took  hold  of  the  feelings  of  both." 
These  expectations  were  not  disappointed.  "  I 
have  given  such  orders  concerning  Dr.  Robinson 
as  will  please  you,"  President  Pierce  informed  the 
Boston  friends,  and  the  "  Bastile-on-the-prairies  " 
was  broken  up.  Mr.  Lawrence's  knowledge  of 
the  letter,  a  not  inconsiderable  factor  in  effecting 
the  modification  of  federal  policy  toward  Kansas, 
which  now  took  place,  and  in  hastening  the  arrival 
of  Woodson's  successor  in  the  territory,  was  not  so 
slender  as  his  language  might  seem  to  imply.  He 
drafted  the  letter  himself,  and  sent  it  to  Mrs.  Rob- 
inson, who  copied  and  forwarded  it  to  Mrs.  Pierce. 


PER  ASPERA.  197 

The  administration,  after  much  careful  search, 
pitched  upon  John  W.  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
the  vacant  gubernatorial  post  in  Kansas,  and  he 
reached  Lecompton  September  10th,  just  as  the 
storm  raised  by  Woodson  was  culminating.  He 
owed  his  selection  to  a  reputation  for  great  exec- 
utive ability.  The  administration  perceived  that, 
for  political  reasons,  the  disorders  in  Kansas  must 
be  composed,  and  he  was  expected  to  accomplish 
that  feat. 

Governor  Geary  stepped  into  the  border  tumult 
with  the  assertive  bearing  of  a  Titan.  Superb 
and  not  wholly  misplaced  was  his  self-confidence. 
That  he  did  not  idealize  the  situation  is  clear,  as 
he  took  pains  to  say  that  it  could  not  be  worse. 
Not  only  did  he  fully  anticipate  success,  but  the 
very  desperation  of  affairs  fascinated  him.  No- 
vember 28th,  after  more  than  ten  weeks  in  the 
territory,  he  could  write  to  Lawrence,  "  I  am  per- 
fectly enthusiastic  in  ray  mission." 

The  policies  and  measures  with  which  Gover- 
nor Geary  began  did  him  no  discredit.  "  When 
I  arrived  here,"- he  confided  to  a  friend,  "I  per- 
ceived at  once  that,  in  order  to  do  any  good,  I  must 
rise  superior  to  all  partisan  considerations,  and  be 
in  simple  truth  the  governor  of  the  entire  people." 
He  concluded  to  disband  the  militia  called  into 
the  field  by  Woodson,  and  all  unauthorized  bodies 
of  armed  men.  If  there  should  be  need  for  soldiers, 
he  would  enroll  actual  residents  of  the  territory 


198  KANSAS. 

and  muster  them  into  the  federal  sej*vice.  Then, 
in  reference  to  the  laws,  they  must  be  obeyed  un- 
til expunged  from  the  statute-book. 

The  proclamation  which  was  issued  ordering 
the  militia  to  disband  produced  less  effect  than 
could  have  been  wished.  Lane,  it  is  true,  turned 
his  face  once  more  toward  the  familiar  regions 
of  Nebraska  without  waiting  for  its  appearance. 
Free-state  organizations  were  inclined  to  disperse, 
but  hesitated,  feeling  anxious  about  the  move- 
ments of  the  other  side.  The  governor  told  them 
under  his  breath  that  they  might  be  leisurely  in 
their  obedience. 

The  Missourians  had  been  busy,  since  the  re- 
connaissance upon  Bull  Creek  and  the  destruction 
of  Osawatomie,  in  fitting  out  a  military  force,  the 
most  formidable  in  numbers  and  equipment  that 
invaded  the  territory  during  the  border  struggle. 
If  Woodson's  administration  could  have  been 
stretched  into  a  few  days  more  of  life,  the  com- 
plete conquest  of  Lawrence  and  of  Kansas  would 
have  been  assured.  Neither  inaugurals,  nor  proc- 
lamations, nor  explicit  orders  from  Lecompton 
brought  to  a  halt  the  pro-slavery  leaders.  They 
pushed  on  to  Franklin.  Their  approach  spread  so 
much  consternation  throughout  the  region  that  the 
governor,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Cooke  with  four 
hundred  dragoons,  set  out  from  Lecompton  for 
Lawrence  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Sep- 
tember 13th,  where  he  found  two  or  three  hun- 


PER  ASPERA.  199 

dred  men,  poorly  armed  and  completely  disorgan- 
ized, awaiting  attack.  The  resuscitated  fortifica- 
tions did  not  find  favor  with  the  military  folk. 
"  The  town  has  some  ridiculous  attempts  at  de- 
fenses," said  Colonel  Cooke,  "with  two  main 
streets  barricaded  with  earth-works,  which  I  could 
ride  over.  .  .  .  Few  of  the  people  had  arms  in  their 
hands."  Governor  Robinson  wrote  Mr.  Lawrence 
on  the  16th,  "  I  found  our  people  in  a  bad  fix 
when  I  came  out  of  confinement.  We  have  no 
provisions,  and  not  ten  rounds  of  ammunition  to  a 
man."  The  scare  was  premature,  as  the  Missou- 
rians  drew  off  under  cover  of  darkness  without 
pressing  an  attack.  Governor  Geary  made  a  re- 
assuring speech,  and  returned  to  Lecompton. 

But  the  blow  was  delayed,  not  averted.  About 
noon  on  the  14th  couriers,  riding  at  a  tearing  pace, 
began  to  arrive  in  Lawrence  with  intelligence 
that  the  enemy  was  advancing  in  force.  The 
town  presented  a  scene  of  gloomy,  almost  helpless 
confusion.  Captain  J.  B.  Abbott  was  nominally 
in  command,  though  Governor  Robinson,  Colonel 
Blood,  Captain  Walker,  and  Captain  Cracklin 
acted  with  more  or  less  independence  of  head- 
quarters. Here  and  there  Old  John  Brown  urged 
his  favorite  maxim,  —  "  Keep  cool  and  fire  low." 
During  the  afternoon  a  troop  of  the  enemy's  horse 
pushed  their  reconnaissance  within  range  of  the 
few  Sharpe's  rifles  which  the  free-state  men  had. 
A  volley  checked  their  advance  and  sent  them  back 


200  KANSAS. 

toward  Franklin.  The  Missourians.-missed  their 
opportunity  if  they  really  wished  to  destroy  the 
town.  Lawrence,  with  its  rickety  fortifications 
and  its  handful  of  demoralized,  poorly  armed  de- 
fenders, was  utterly  at  their  mercy.  "  So  far  as 
its  inhabitants  were  concerned,"  said  Governor 
Geary,  "  the  place  was  almost  in  a  defenseless 
condition,  and  the  sacking  and  taking  of  it  under 
the  circumstances  would  have  reflected  no  honor 
upon  the  attacking  party." 

At  sundown  dispatches,  apprising  the  governor 
of  the  situation  at  Lawrence,  reached  Lecompton. 
He  immediately  sent  Colonel  Johnston  with  cav- 
alry and  artillery  to  the  scene  of  disturbance,  and 
proceeded  thither  in  person  next  morning  at  an 
early  hour.  When  he  arrived  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  Missourians  was  in  sight  and  marching 
toward  the  town.  Governor  Geary  and  Colonel 
Cooke  hastened  to  intercept  it,  and  were  escorted 
to  headquarters  at  Franklin.  "  Here  about  twenty- 
five  hundred  men,"  said  Colonel  Cooke,  "  armed 
and  organized,  were  drawn  up,  horse  and  foot,  and 
a  strong  six-pound  battery." 

The  governor  summoned  to  a  conference  the 
principal  leaders  —  Atchison,  W bitfield,  Reid, 
Titus,  Jones,  and  others  —  and  made  a  speech 
flavored  to  the  latitude.  "  Though  held  in  a  board 
house,"  he  said,  characteristically  magnifying  the 
occasion,  "  the  present  is  the  most  important  coun- 
cil since  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  as  its  issues 


PER  ASPERA.  201 

involve  the  fate  of  the  Union  then  formed."  The 
governor  assured  the  Missourians  that  as  Demo- 
crats they  could  not  afford  to  destroy  Lawrence, 
and  that  he  could  take  care  of  the  abolitionists 
without  their  help.  "  He  promised  us  all  we 
wanted,"  said  Atchison,  and  the  council  broke  up 
generally  satisfied  with  the  governor's  plans  and 
purposes.  The  largest  and  best  appointed  force 
Missouri  ever  sent  into  the  territory  dissolved,  and 
Lawrence  was  saved,  solely  by  Geary's  energy  and 
decision. 

The  governor  pushed  the  work  of  pacification 
effectively.  One  hundred  free-state  men  —  fight- 
ing material  that  should  have  remained  at  Law- 
rence in  the  lowering  aspect  of  affairs  —  made 
an  expedition  against  Hickory  Point,  Jefferson 
County.  Lane,  in  his  progress  toward  Nebraska, 
stopped  to  chastise  a  pro-slavery  band,  which  took 
refuge  in  log-cabins  at  that  place  and  bade  him 
defiance.  He  sent  a  courier  to  Lawrence  for  help, 
who  arrived  September  13th,  and  Colonel  J.  A. 
Harvey  immediately  responded  with  one  hundred 
or  more  men.  Abandoning  his  campaign  before 
their  arrival.  Lane  expected  to  meet  and  turn  back 
these  reinforcements,  it  is  said  ;  but  they  missed 
him,  pushed  on  to  Hickory  Point,  which  they 
reached  the  next  forenoon,  and  fought  a  miniature 
battle  in  which  one  pro-slavery  man  was  killed. 
Then  followed  a  treaty.  Both  parties  agreed  to 
retire,  and  celebrated  the  conclusion  of  peace  by 


202  KANSAS. 

passing  round  a  demijohn  of  whiskey.  "  The 
drinking  was  not  general  on  either  side,"  says 
Captain  F.  B.  Swift.  "  There  was  no  carousal  or 
jollification,  but  the  consequences  were  serious. 
We  had  been  without  sleep  for  thirty-six  hours, 
and  without  food  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  with- 
out drinkable  water  all  through  that  hot  after- 
noon's skirmish,  so  that  the  whiskey  proved  too 
much  for  those  who  drank,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  go  into  camp  a  few  miles  from  the  scene 
of  the  fight  instead  of  pushing  on  to  Lawrence." 
Here  they  were  surprised  and  captured  by  federal 
Captain  T.  J.  Wood,  taken  to  Lecompton,  and  ar- 
raigned before  Judge  Cato,  whom  Governor  Geary 
found  at  Franklin  serving  in  the  Missouri  army. 
Judge  Cato  refused  bail,  and  committed  eighty- 
seven  prisoners  on  charges  of  murder  in  the  first 
degree.  A  doleful  experience  of  captivity  suc- 
ceeded. Trials  began  in  October,  and  resulted 
variously,  the  verdicts  ranging  from  acquittal  to 
five  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

Nor  did  Governor  Geary  overlook  the  judiciary 
in  his  efforts  for  reform.  He  addressed  communi- 
cations to  the  judges,  calling  them  to  account  for 
the  inefficiency  of  the  courts  —  courts  whose  re- 
straining and  punitive  authority  over  the  calami- 
tous course  of  territorial  affairs  had  been  as  slight 
and  inappreciable  as  the  sway  of  drift  logs  over 
the  Gulf  Stream.  Criminal  offenses  of  every  grade 
shot  up  luxuriantly  and  overshadowed  the  terri- 


PER  ASPERA.  203 

tory  with  their  noxious  umbrage  —  thefts,  arsons, 
manslaughters,  murders  —  yet  the  paltry  account 
of  criminal  convictions  footed  up  two  sentences 
for  horse-stealing,  three  or  four  for  assumption  of 
office,  and  twice  that  number  for  unlicensed  sell- 
ing of  liquor.  Chief  Justice  Lecompte  replied  at 
length.  He  claimed  that  partisan  bias  had  never 
tarnished  his  judicial  record,  and  insisted,  with 
some  show  of  reason,  that  the  unhappy,  inhospi- 
table times  were  answerable  for  the  paralysis  of 
the  judiciary. 

Temporarily  Governor  Geary  succeeded.  The 
territory  gradually  settled  into  something  like  re- 
pose. Marauders  of  every  sort,  free-state  and  pro- 
slavery,  who  had  so  successfully  established  a  reign 
of  terror,  abandoned  the  field.  After  a  pleasant 
tour  of  observation,  which  occupied  twenty  days, 
finding  "  the  benign  influences  of  peace  "  every- 
where prevalent,  the  governor  appointed  Thurs- 
day, November  20th,  "  as  a  day  of  general  praise 
and  thanksgiving  to  Almighty  God."  Depart- 
ment commander  Smith  shared  in  his  hopefulness. 
"  I  consider  tranquillity  and  order,"  he  reported 
November  llth,  "entirely  restored  in  Kansas." 

An  astute,  unpublic  movement  was  also  afoot 
to  put  the  peace  on  permanent  foundations  by 
a  transfusion  of  the  territorial  government  into 
the  Topeka  state  government.  "  What  if  by 
means  of  certain  influences,"  Governor  Robinson 
wrote  Mr.  Lawrence  December  21st,  "  the  Topeka 


204  KANSAS. 

constitution  should  be  admitted,  the  state  gover- 
nor should  resign,  the  territorial  governor  be  unan- 
imously elected,  and  we  should  have  a  peaceable 
free  state  ?  Of  course  the  Senate  will  need  to 
compromise  the  matter  with  the  House  by  provid- 
ing for  submitting  the  constitution  once  more  to 
the  people.  This  with  an  election  law  by  Con- 
gress and  Governor  Geary  to  execute  it  would  be 
no  very  serious  objection."  The  short  cut  into 
the  Union  offered  many  advantages  over  compet- 
ing methods.  It  involved  the  resignation  of  Rob- 
inson, the  election  of  Geary  in  his  place,  and  a 
little  favorable  congressional  action.  Geary  advo- 
cated the  scheme  enthusiastically.  In  his  anxiety 
to  elude  observation,  and  not  seem  to  be  on  too 
friendly  terms  with  prominent  free-state  men,  he 
made  an  appointment  to  meet  Robinson  in  the 
attic  of  a  log-cabin  at  Lecompton,  a  low,  dingy 
store-room,  in  which  it  was  impossible  to  stand 
upright  except  directly  under  the  roof-tree.  "  I 
am  sure  my  friend  Buchanan,"  said  Geary,  "  will 
be  glad  to  get  out  of  the  scrape  in  this  way."  The 
date  of  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Topeka  legis- 
lature was  January  6th,  1857.  Robinson,  who 
went  to  Washington  to  engineer  the  consolidation 
project,  left  behind  his  resignation  as  governor. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  session  no  quorum  ap- 
peared. The  second  brought  larger  numbers  and 
organization.  But  at  the  close  of  business  the 
federal  marshal,  who  was  lying  in  wait,  arrested 


PER  ASPERA.  205 

a  dozen  members,  and  the  legislature  took  a  recess 
until  the  9th  of  June.  Robinson's  mission  to 
Washington  did  not  prosper.  The  administration 
was  unfriendly,  and  nothing  could  be  done.  In 
truth,  Geary,  fast  falling  under  suspicion  at  Wash- 
ington, had  seen  his  brightest  Kansas  days.  The 
confusion  and  alarm  of  a  reawakened  anarchy 
followed  hard  upon  the  paeans  of  his  public  thanks- 
giving. 

The  territorial  legislature  began  its  second  ses- 
sion at  Lecompton  January  12th,  1857,  and  gave 
Governor  Geary  plenty  of  wormwood  to  bite  upon. 
Substantially  the  council  of  the  first  legislature 
reappeared,  but  a  new  and  undissenting  pro-slav- 
ery House  of  Representatives  had  been  elected. 
Gihon,  in  his  rather  intemperate  and  heavily-col- 
ored book,  "  Governor  Geary's  Administration  in 
Kansas,"  describes  the  legislature  as  chiefly  a  vul- 
gar, illiterate,  hiccoughing  rout  —  blindly,  madly, 
set  on  planting  slavery  securely  in  the  territory. 
His  picture,  however,  after  all  abatements  and 
concessions  are  granted,  still  retains  large  elements 
of  historic  fidelity.  At  every  turn  this  brass- 
throated  legislature  confronted  the  governor  and 
his  fair-play  policy.  Not  satisfied  with  the  din 
stirred  up  in  Kansas,  pro-slavery  leaders  sent  on 
men  to  plot  and  vociferate  in  Washington.  Lo- 
cally affairs  came  to  a  crisis  in  the  death  of  a 
young  man  by  the  name -of  Sherrard  —  well-born, 
with  generous  traits  of  character,  but  under  the 


206  KANSAS. 

influence  of  drink  or  bad  advice  -a  desperado. 
Sherrard  failed  to  secure  an  office  for  which  he 
was  an  applicant,  and  charged  his  disappointment 
to  the  governor,  whom  he  endeavored  to  draw  into 
an  altercation  as  an  excuse  for  shooting  him.  He 
equipped  himself  for  the  encounter  with  two  heavy 
revolvers  and  a  bowie-knife.  Meeting  Geary  as 
he  left  the  legislative  hall,  he  began  to  assail  him 
with  abusive  words.  Geary  did  not  notice  the 
insult.  His  coolness  and  self-command  probably 
saved  his  life.  This  ineffectual  essay  at  assassi- 
nation received,  perhaps,  some  inspiration  from 
members  of  the  legislature.  In  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives the  Rev.  Martin  White  presented 
laudatory  resolutions,  but  that  body  shrank  from 
so  formal  an  encomium. 

Governor  Geary  became  alarmed.  He  applied 
to  the  federal  commander  at  Leavenworth  for 
additional  troops,  and  was  rebuffed  with  the  an- 
nouncement that  they  were  otherwise  occupied. 
By  this  denial  of  protection,  the  fact  that  the  ad- 
ministration had  abandoned  him  passed  from  hint 
and  conjecture  into  declaration.  Free-state  men 
rallied  in  support  of  the  deserted  governor.  There 
began  a  series  of  indorsing,  panegyric  mass-meet- 
ings, which  reached  a  tragic  conclusion  at  Lecomp- 
ton  February  18th.  Here  the  usual  resolutions 
friendly  to  the  governor  were  introduced,  which 
threw  Sherrard,  who  took  pains  to  be  present,  into 
a  paroxysm  of  rage.  Leaping  upon  a  pile  of 


PER  ASPERA.  207 

boards,  he  delivered  a  brief  but  clear  and  pithy 
address  :  "  Any  man  who  will  indorse  these  reso- 
lutions is  a  liar,  a  scoundrel,  and  a  coward."  One 
man  in  the  crowd  did  indorse  them,  and  said  so 
rather  loudly  and  defiantly.  This  exhibition  of 
frankness  was  resented  by  an  appeal  to  pistols. 
The  fight  spluttered  and  fusilladed  for  a  time 
without  much  execution  ;  then  concluded  abruptly 
with  the  death  of  the  desperado.  "  I  saw  Sher- 
rard  leap  into  the  air  as  a  bullet  struck  him  in 
the  forehead,"  said  a  quiet,  pacific  spectator.  "  I 
don't  think  anything  ever  happened  in  the  terri- 
tory that  pleased  me  so  much  as  the  shooting  of 
that  man."  The  fatal  pistol  shot  also  dispersed 
numerous  pro-slavery  roughs  in  attendance,  and 
spoiled  a  pretty  programme  of  mischief  which 
they  had  sketched. 

Governor  Geary's  extraordinary  hopefulness 
and  self-confidence  temporarily  gave  way.  The 
enthusiasm  for  his  mission,  which  blazed  and 
crackled  so  brilliantly  three  months  before,  now 
burned  feebly  and  intermittently  like  a  twinkling 
flame  among  dying  embers.  "  My  only  consola- 
tion now  is,"  he  wrote  A.  A.  Lawrence  February 
25th,  "  that  my  labors  are  properly  appreciated 
by,  and  that  I  have  the  sympathy  of,  very  many 
of  the  best  citizens  of  the  Union.  .  .  .  How  much 
longer  I  shall  be  required  to  sacrifice  pecuniary 
interests,  comfort,  and  health  in  what  appears  al- 
most a  thankless  work  remains  to  be  determined." 


208  KANSAS. 

The  sacrifice  continued  only  a  tew  days,  when  the 
governor  abandoned  the  territory  very  hastily  and 
informally.  The  end  had  been  predicted  from  the 
beginning.  "  What  you  say  suits  us  first-rate," 
said  Captain  Samuel  Walker,  an  old  acquaint- 
ance, as  he  was  eloquently  expounding  his  pur- 
poses to  a  little  knot  of  listeners  in  his  office  at 
Lecompton  soon  after  his  arrival ;  "  but  mark  my 
word,  you'll  take  the  underground  railroad  out 
of  Kansas  in  six  months."  "  I  '11  show  you," 
Geary  retorted,  with  the  emphasis  of  a  smart  blow 
on  the  table  at  which  he  sat,  "  and  all  the  d — d 
rascals  that  I  am  governor  of  Kansas.  The  ad- 
ministration is  behind  me."  The  prophecy  was 
literally  fulfilled.  About  midnight  March  10th 
a  heavy  knock  at  his  cabin  door  roused  Captain 
Walker.  Great  was  his  surprise  to  find  that  the 
belated  visitor  was  Governor  Geary,  with  two  re- 
volvers buckled  about  his  waist,  on  his  way  out 
of  the  territory.  Though  agitated  and  shaken  by 
the  perils  hounding  his  trail,  his  self-assertion  was 
not  wholly  extinguished.  "  I  'm  going  to  Wash- 
ington," he  informed  his  host,  "  and  I  '11  straighten 
things  out." 

But  Geary  found  the  authorities  at  Washington 
deaf  to  his  talk.  Nothing  remained  for  him  but 
to  print  a  leave-taking  address  and  make  his  exit, 
after  a  stirring,  egotistic,  even-handed,  almost 
brilliant  six  months  in  Kansas. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE. 

THE  presidential  election  of  1856,  which  re- 
sulted in  a  Democratic  victory,  turned  chiefly  upon 
questions  brought  to  the  surface  by  the  contest 
in  Kansas.  Into  all  the  national  conventions  — 
American,  Whig,  Republican,  and  Democratic  — 
the  territory  thrust  its  disturbing  presence.  The 
struggle  was  remarkable  in  many  respects.  Never 
before  did  a  presidential  election  turn  so  largely 
upon  questions  of  statesmanship,  of  ethics  and  the 
higher  law.  A  variety  of  influences  contributed 
to  tliis  temporary  lustration  of  national  politics, 
but  they  all  radiated  from  the  slavery  problem, 
the  compromise  of  1850,  the  tempest  in  Kansas, 
and  the  phenomenal  currency  of  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin." 

The  Democratic  campaign  dealt  heavily  in 
threat  and  menace.  Southern  orators  and  news- 
papers drew  lamentable  pictures  of  the  woes  that 
would  succeed  a  Republican  triumph.  Such  an 
untoward  event,  they  did  not  scruple  to  announce, 
would  certainly  justify,  if  it  did  not  absolutely 
necessitate,  a  destruction  of  the  Union.  James 

14 


210  KANSAS. 

Buchanan's  election  as  president  postponed  the 
date  of  secession. 

Two  days  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan, Chief  Justice  Taney,  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  delivered  the  famous  Dred  Scott  decision, 
the  purport  of  which  was  that  slavery  should  have 
the  freedom  of  the  public  domain  —  that  nobody 
should  meddle  with  it  before  the  adoption  of  a 
state  constitution. 

President  Buchanan,  alarmed  by  the  disastrous 
effect  of  the  Kansas  disturbances,  immediately 
cast  about  for  some  cloud-compelling  successor  to 
Governor  Geary.  Robert  J.  Walker,  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  though  long  resident  in  Mississippi  —  an 
active,  shrewd,  tonguey,  intellectual,  withered 
little  man,  experienced  and  not  unsuccessful  in 
public  vocations  —  was  selected  as  the  best  pro- 
tagonist within  call  to  invade  the  perilous  nether 
world  of  Kansas. 

Walker's  appointment  indicated  a  change  in 
federal  tactics  and  policy.  It  was  now  conceded 
that  Kansas  could  not  with  any  likelihood  be  made 
a  slave  state,  but  it  was  hoped  that  by  a  skillful 
disintegration  of  existing  parties,  and  the  forma- 
tion of  an  administration  party  out  of  their  ruins, 
it  might  be  made  a  Democratic  state.  To  this 
task  Walker  brought  a  veteran  political  astuteness, 
from  which  much  was  expected.  That  the  work 
of  any  constitutional  convention  which  might  con- 
vene should  be  fully  and  unqualifiedly  submitted 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  211 

to  the  people  for  ratification  or  rejection  was  a 
prominent  feature  of  the  revised  programme,  and 
one  to  which  President  Buchanan  gave  assent. 

Meanwhile  the  new  territorial  secretary,  Fred- 
eric P.  Stanton  —  an  able,  scholarly  lawyer  who 
had  served  ten  years  in  Congress  as  representative 
from  Tennessee  —  proceeded  to  Kansas  in  advance 
of  the  governor.  He  immediately  issued  an  ad- 
dress in  which  the  policy  of  the  new  administra- 
tion was  briefly  set  forth.  The  address  did  not 
have  an  enthusiastic  reception.  Pro-slavery  ad- 
herents viewed  with  apprehension  the  fact  that 
the  secretary  seemed  to  have  a  mind  of  his  own, 
while  the  other  side  preferred  to  withhold  their 
approval  until  the  new  regime  should  have  passed 
successfully  a  period  of  probation. 

A  pro-slavery  constitutional  convention  had 
long  been  preparing.  The  movement  began  in 
the  first  territorial  legislature,  which  submitted 
the  question  of  its  expediency  to  the  people  in 
October,  1856.  At  the  polls  there  was  a  favor- 
able verdict.  The  next  legislature  passed  a  bill 
authorizing  the  election  of  delegates  June  15th, 
1857.  Governor  Geary  vetoed  the  measure,  be- 
cause it  failed  to  provide  that  the  people  should 
pass  upon  the  proposed  constitution  at  the  polls, 
and  because  he  regarded  it  impolitic  "  for  a  few 
thousand  people,  scarcely  sufficient  to  make  a  good 
county,"  to  set  up  an  establishment  of  their  own ; 
but  his  effort  to  check  the  legislature  was  like 


212  KANSAS. 

trying  to  drain  an  Irish  bog  with  a  sponge.  The 
census,  prefatory  to  this  election,  turned  out  to  be 
a  very  imperfect  affair.  Apportionment  of  del- 
egates depended  on  population,  but  nobody  could 
vote  whose  name  did  not  appear  in  the  registry 
lists.  In  sixteen  only  out  of  the  thirty-four  or- 
ganized counties  was  there  any  registration,  and 
the  census  tables  showed  still  larger  gaps.  For 
this  condition  of  things  the  pro -slavery  party 
was  not  wholly  responsible.  Free-state  men  per- 
plexed the  enumeration  by  embarrassments  of 
omission  and  commission,  and  were  not  ill  pleased 
at  the  starved  and  skeleton  returns.  Unfortu- 
nately, Secretary  Stanton,  fresh  upon  the  ground 
and  not  fully  cognizant  of  the  situation,  appor- 
tioned delegates  for  the  convention  on  the  basis  of 
the  defective  census.  Here  was  another  firebrand 
flung  upon  free-state  straw.  The  territory  was 
again  in  a  flame.  After  much  talk  and  some 
fruitless  negotiation,  the  anti-slavery  party  con- 
cluded to  let  the  election  go  by  default.  "  Men 
who  could  expend  thousands,  and  travel  many  a 
weary  mile  to  fill  Kansas  with  rifles,"  said  Rep- 
resentative Hughes,  of  Indiana,  "  could  not  walk 
across  the  street  to  vote."  The  election  passed  off 
tamely.  Less  than  one  fourth  of  the  nine  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  fifty-one  registered  voters 
took  part  in  it.  The  material  and  animus  of  the 
convention  were  completely  satisfactory  to  the  pro- 
slavery  party. 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  213 

Governor  Walker  reached  Lecompton  May  26th, 
and  gave  his  inaugural  to  the  public  the  next  day. 
It  was  a  diffuse,  reverberating,  able  exposition  of 
the  new  policy  which  had  been  agreed  upon  in 
Washington.  Shortly  after  he  made  a  tour  of  ob- 
servation and  of  exposition.  By  conferences  with 
the  people,  public  and  private,  he  hoped  to  con- 
vince them  that  his  purposes  were  pacific  and 
honorable,  and  that  their  interests  lay  in  discard- 
ing every  form  of  controversy  except  "  the  peace- 
ful but  decisive  struggle  of  the  ballot-box."  He 
was  in  Topeka  June  6th,  and  made  a  cogent,  un- 
equivocal, manly  address.  In  three  days  a  session 
of  the  state  legislature,  adjourned  from  the  dis- 
consolate January  meeting,  would  begin.  Should 
the  state  legislature  enact  a  code  of  laws  and  at- 
tempt to  put  it  in  force,  as  some  free-state  men 
still  urged,  there  could  be,  in  the  opinion  of  Gov- 
ernor Walker,  only  one  issue  —  "  absolute,  clear, 
direct,  and  positive  collision  between  that  legisla- 
ture and  the  government  of  the  United  States." 
In  the  most  explicit  and  reduplicative  language 
he  declared  that  henceforth  the  people  of  Kansas 
were  to  manage  their  own  concerns.  If  the  forth- 
coming convention,  auditors  asked,  should  decline 
to  submit  the  new  constitution  to  the  people,  what 
then?  "  I  will  join  you,  fellow  citizens,"  the  gov- 
ernor replied,  "  in  opposition  to  their  course.  And 
I  doubt  not  that  one  much  higher  than  I,  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  Union,  will  join  you." 


214  KANSAS. 

Walker  tarried  in  Topeka  to  wjttch  the  legisla- 
ture. This  session,  like  that  of  July  4th,  1856, 
was  yoked  with  a  mass  convention  which  began  at 
an  early  hour  June  9th,  and  did  not  dissolve  until 
eight  o'clock  at  night.  The  convention  undertook 
the  same  functions  of  coaching  and  surveillance 
as  its  prototype.  It  wrestled  with  the  perennial 
question  whether  the  Topeka  government  should 
be  placed  squarely  on  its  feet,  or  merely  take  such 
measures  as  would  keep  a  breath  of  life  in  the 
organization  without  clashing  with  the  territorial 
authorities.  Though  the  discussions  frothed  and 
declaimed,  the  conclusions  were  of  a  mild,  do- 
nothing  order.  Walker  with  all  his  astuteness  did 
not  wholly  fathom  the  tremendous  oratory  of  the 
convention.  It  was  craftily  handled  so  as  to  im- 
press him  with  the  conviction  that  unless  the  anti- 
slavery  folk  should  receive  fair  treatment,  unless 
constitutional  conventions  should  remand  their  in- 
struments to  the  polls  for  final  adjudication,  revo- 
lutionary convulsions  would  certainly  break  out. 
The  convention  accomplished  its  mission.  Walker 
wrote  his  superiors  in  Washington  that  had  it  not 
been  for  his  intervention  "  the  more  violent  course 
would  have  prevailed,  and  the  territory  imme- 
diately involved  in  a  general  and  sanguinary  civil 
war." 

When  the  legislature  assembled  no  quorum  ap- 
peared. This  fact  was  carefully  hidden  from  the 
impressionable  Walker.  Governor  Robinson,  find- 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  215 

ing  the  shrewd  scheme  of  merging  the  territorial 
in  the  state  government  impracticable,  recalled 
his  resignation  at  the  instance  of  the  legislature, 
and  read  a  message  before  that  unpopulous  body, 
which  once  more  adjourned  after  transacting  a  lit- 
tle harmless  amateur  business. 

In  addition  to  the  constitutional  convention  an 
event  of  no  secondary  importance  would  take 
place  in  the  autumn.  That  event  was  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  territorial  legislature,  preparations 
for  which  filled  the  summer  with  tumult.  The 
law  and  order  gentry,  who  now  called  themselves 
"  National  Democrats,"  gathered  at  Lecompton 
early  in  July,  to  make  nominations  and  lay  plans 
for  the  campaign.  Forty-three  delegates  were  in 
attendance,  who  put  forth  a  series  of  moderate 
resolutions  compared  with  the  highly  seasoned 
viands  which  the  border  palate  heretofore  de- 
manded. Some  fire-eater  presented  a  resolution 
in  convention,  asking  Congress  to  receive  the  ter- 
ritory into  the  Union  under  the  forthcoming  con- 
stitution, whether  the  people  would  be  allowed  to 
vote  upon  it  or  not ;  but  the  resolution  was  effect- 
ually disposed  of  by  a  vote  of  forty-two  in  opposi- 
tion to  one  in  the  affirmative.  Governor  Walker, 
who  seldom  declined  invitations  to  make  a  speech, 
delivered  an  address  that  was  favorably  received. 

In  free-state  quarters  the  question  now  began 
to  be  agitated,  whether  the  policy  of  non-partici- 
pation in  territorial  elections  did  not  need  revis- 


216  KANSAS. 

ing.  Governor  Walker's  vehement  pledges  of  fair 
play  produced  an  impression.  The  mischief  of  a 
vicious  census  could  not  be  completely  undone, 
yet  with  a  square-dealing  executive  success  was 
possible  in  the  face  of  it.  Henry  Wilson,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, visited  the  territory  for  the  purpose 
of  urging  upon  free-state  men  the  imperative  ne- 
cessity of  their  making  an  effort  to  capture  the 
legislature,  and  offered  to  raise  funds  among  East- 
ern friends  to  meet  the  campaign  expenses.  In 
these  views  he  was  heartily  supported  by  Gov- 
ernor Robinson,  who  had  always  been  ready  to 
meet  the  pro-slavery  party  at  the  polls  whenever 
an  honest  count  of  ballots  could  be  assured. 

A  series  of  conventions  now  began  which  ri- 
valed in  noise  and  frequency  the  series  of  1855. 
Nearly  two  hundred  delegates,  representing  the 
whole  territory,  assembled  at  Topeka  July  15th. 
Though  the  special  business  of  this  gathering  was 
to  nominate  certain  state  government  officers,  that 
did  not  preclude  general  discussions  and  the  adop- 
tion of  resolutions  which  freely  abused  the  "bo- 
gus "  legislature,  authorized  Lane  to  put  the  mili- 
tia on  a  war-footing,  and  called  another  convention 
at  Grasshopper  Falls  to  settle  the  question  of  vot- 
ing or  not  voting. 

August  26th  the  free-state  people  met  at  Grass- 
hopper Falls.  There  the  unanimity  which  pre- 
vailed at  Topeka  two  months  before  gave  way. 
A  minority  of  indignant,  impracticable  radicals, 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  217 

like  Redpath  and  Conway,  denounced  the  proposi- 
tion to  cun  lest  the  election  for  members  of  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature  as  "  a  back-down  in  principle 
and  unpromising  in  practical  results."  The  ig- 
nominies of  stultification  they  set  forth  in  dark, 
repulsive  colors,  but  to  no  purpose,  as  the  con- 
vention went  unanimously  and  demonstratively 
against  them.  It  was  the  judgment  of  the  con- 
vention that  the  free-state  party  should  make  an 
attempt  to  get  possession  of  the  legislature.  On 
the  point  of  consistency,  little  can  be  said  in  de- 
fense of  this  conclusion.  But  the  convention 
agreed  with  Governor  Robinson  that  "  men  who 
are  too  conscientious  and  too  honorable  to  change 
their  tactics  with  a  change  of  circumstances  are 
too  conscientious  for  politics." 

The  convention  did  not  regard  its  work  com- 
plete without  the  preparation  of  an  address  to 
the  people.  It  confided  this  duty  to  a  committee 
of  fourteen,  which,  in  spite  of  its  own  bulk  that 
ought  to  have  been  reassuring,  surveyed  the  fu- 
ture with  the  bilious  eyes  of  a  Jeremiah.  "  We 
frankly  avow  ourselves,"  said  the  committee,  "  not 
sanguine  of  success."  Voters  disfranchised  in 
many  counties ;  threats  of  invasion  from  Mis- 
souri ;  distrust  of  Governor  Walker ;  "  a  hellish 
system  of  districting  and  apportionment ;  "  elec- 
tion judges  mostly  "  border  ruffians  of  the  deepest 
dye  "  —  such  were  some  of  the  calamities  that 
oppressed  the  fourteen  and  saddened  their  vision. 


218  KANSAS. 

Prophets  of  evil  misread  the  signs  of  the  times. 
The  5th  of  October,  on  which  members  of  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature  were  elected,  proved  to  be  a 
red-letter  day  for  freedom  in  Kansas.  Probably 
the  fact  that  federal  troops  were  sent  into  no  less 
than  fourteen  precincts,  with  orders  to  prevent  all 
illegal  voting,  discouraged  invasions  from  Missouri. 
The  election  was  unprolific  in  tumults.  Even  the 
redoubtable  town  of  Kickapoo  did  not  get  beyond 
a  rather  prosy  brawl.  At  two  points  extensive 
frauds  were  attempted.  McGee  County  was  then 
an  Indian  reservation,  and  therefore  not  open  to 
settlement.  It  contained  a  very  sparse  white  pop- 
ulation. At  the  June  election  only  fourteen  votes 
were  cast.  Yet  in  October  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty -six  pro-slavery  ballots  purported  to  have 
been  polled  there.  The  town  of  Oxford,  Johnson 
County,  made  a  still  more  flagrant  showing.  This 
paltry  hamlet  "  of  six  houses,  including  stores," 
reported  sixteen  hundred  and  twenty-eight  votes. 

The  Oxford  and  McGee  returns  brought  on  a 
crisis.  If  they  should  be  counted,  the  legislature 
would  remain  pro-slavery;  if  they  should  be  re- 
jected, it  would  pass  into  control  of  the  opposition. 
A  little  inspection  showed  them  to  be  clumsily 
executed  forgeries.  October  19th  Walker  and 
Stanton  issued  a  proclamation  throwing  out  the 
Oxford  returns  on  the  ground  of  technical  infor- 
malities, and  in  three  days  those  from  McGee 
fared  in  the  same  way. 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  219 

This  action  made  a  tempest  among  the  Na- 
tional Democrats.  On  the  23d  they  held  an  in- 
dignation meeting  at  Lecompton,  and  gave  vent 
to  their  sentiments  in  seventeen  furious  but  idle 
resolutions.  Then  Judge  Cato  came  to  the  res- 
cue with  a  mandamus,  ordering  the  governor  and 
secretary  to  issue  certificates  of  election  to  the 
pro-slavery  candidates  from  Douglas  and  Johnson 
counties ;  but  the  judge  had  no  better  success 
than  the  mass-meeting.  Other  resources  failing, 
Sheriff  Jones,  who  was  one  of  the  excluded  candi- 
dates, attempted  to  get  his  credentials  by  violence. 
Striding  into  Stanton's  office  with  a  companion, 
he  demanded  that  the  papers  should  be  at  once 
filled  out ;  but  he  found  the  secretary  could  not 
be  intimidated.  This  gross  outrage  stirred  up  ex- 
citement. On  the  evening  of  the  succeeding  day 
a  company  of  mounted  free-state  men  called  upon 
Stanton,  and  assured  him  that  if  it  would  be  a 
convenience  to  have  Jones  put  out  of  the  way, 
and  if  the  authorities  would  wink  at  the  affair, 
he  should  be  strung  up  before  morning.  Their 
services  were  politely  declined.  Jones  and  his 
confederates  escaped  with  a  light  and  whimsical 
penalty.  The  affair  threw  the  excitable  governor 
into  a  great  rage.  He  was  sick  at  the  time,  and 
could  do  nothing.  On  recovering,  he  made  a  dem- 
onstration upon  what  he  called  the  enemy.  Arm- 
ing himself  with  a  small  "pepper-box"  pistol, 
he  began  a  tour  of  objurgation.  "  Come  along," 


220  KANSAS. 

he  said  to  Stanton,  "  let  us  go  to  see  the  Bengal 
tigers."  And  this  puny  incarnation  of  a  tremen- 
dous choler  —  lapse  of  time  inflaming  rather  than 
cooling  his  passion  —  visited  the  dens  and  drink- 
ing saloons  of  Lecompton,  and  denounced  their 
inmates  with  a  savage  energy  that  Timon  of 
Athens  could  not  have  outdone.  The  governor 
returned  from  his  circumnavigation  of  invective, 
happy  in  the  thought  that  for  once  the  "  Bengal 
tigers  "  had  heard  themselves  described  in  faithful 
and  unmistakable  English. 

The  proclamations  of  October  19th  and  22d 
dashed  all  schemes  of  building  a  victorious  ad- 
ministration party  out  of  existing  political  or- 
ganizations. The  animosities,  to  which  they  im- 
parted large  and  tempestuous  vitality,  defeated 
the  latest,  craftiest  strategy  of  the  administration. 
These  consequences,  which  wrote  failure  in  large 
letters  across  their  personal  and  special  mission 
to  Kansas,  were  not  hidden  from  Walker  and 
Stanton.  They  issued  the  crucial  proclamations, 
which  conceded  to  the  free-state  party  nine  of 
the  thirteen  councilmen  and  twenty-four  of  the 
thirty-nine  representatives,  with  the  keenest  ap- 
preciation of  all  they  implied  —  issued  them  in 
honorable  fulfillment  of  public  pledges  that  the 
polls  should  be  protected. 

The  pro-slavery  party  made  one  more  desperate 
effort  to  stay  their  foundering  fortunes.  Only 
in  the  direction  of  the  constitutional  convention, 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  221 

of  which  they  had  absolute  control,  were  there 
signs  of  promise.  That  body,  representing  a  small 
minority  of  actual  voters  in  the  territory,  gath- 
ered at  Lecompton  September  7th.  Forty-four 
members  in  a  total  of  sixty  responded  to  their 
names.  John  Calhoun,  surveyor  general  of  the 
territory,  was  elected  president,  with  the  usual 
complement  of  subordinate  officials,  including  a 
chaplain.  Some  members  of  the  convention  re- 
garded the  employment  of  a  man  to  pray  foolish, 
but  a  majority  believed  it  "  would  have  a  good 
effect  on  the  country,"  however  bootless  it  might 
be  locally.  The  convention  remained  in  session 
four  days,  which  were  principally  devoted  to  or- 
ganization, and  then  adjourned  until  October  19th. 
The  special  motive  for  delay  was  the  approach- 
ing election  for  members  of  the  legislature,  the 
issue  of  which  would,  in  large  measure,  mould  its 
policy. 

Lecompton  was  in  an  uproar  October  19th. 
Thither  on  that  day  flocked  hundreds  of  free-state 
men,  inspired  by  the  thought  that  "  nothing  is 
so  difficult  for  a  scoundrel  to  do  as  to  meet  the 
clear,  honest  gaze  of  the  man  whom  he  is  trying 
to  wrong."  So  they  thronged  Lecompton  to  look 
into  the  eyes  of  members  of  the  convention. 
What  they  might  have  done  in  addition  to  this 
personal  scrutiny,  had  not  the  appearance  of  the 
"VValker-Stanton  proclamation  sweetened  their  tem- 
per, is  not  entirely  certain. 


222  KANSAS. 

The  demonstration  impressed  the  convention 
deeply.  For  three  days  in  succession  no  quorum 
appeared ;  but  on  the  fourth  day  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  absentees  for  the  transaction  of  business 
was  secured.  The  convention  found  itself  tangled 
in  the  meshes  of  a  very  perplexing  task.  It  had 
essayed  to  saddle  a  pro-slavery  constitution  upon 
a  community  overwhelmingly  anti-slavery.  The 
constitution  which  it  made  was  well  enough,  ex- 
cept in  the  matter  of  slavery,  in  regard  to  which 
it  took  extreme  ground.  "  The  right  of  prop- 
erty," it  announced,  "  is  before  and  higher  than 
any  constitutional  sanction,  and  the  right  of  the 
owner  of  a  slave  to  such  slave  and  its  increase  is 
the  same  and  as  inviolable  as  the  right  of  any 
property  whatever."  This  doctrine,  as  Mr.  Douglas 
said,  would  deprive  the  State  of  all  authority  to 
abolish  or  prohibit  slavery. 

But  it  was  plain  as  a  pike-staff  that  the  people 
would  make  short  work  of  the  new  constitution  if 
they  should  be  allowed  to  vote  upon  it.  In  this 
unhappy  situation,  it  only  remained  to  devise  some 
make-shift  in  the  place  of  unqualified  submission, 
or  abandon  the  fight.  A  part  of  the  convention, 
under  the  lead  of  Judge  Rush  Elmore,  advocated 
full  submission,  let  the  result  be  what  it  might, 
but  were  voted  down.  Then  came  a  compro- 
mise. The  entire  constitution  should  not  go  before 
the  people,  but  only  the  slavery  article.  Ballots 
might  be  cast  indorsed  "  Constitution  with  slav- 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  223 

ery  "  or  "  Constitution  with  110  slavery."  Should 
the  first  proposition  carry,  slavery  with  restricted 
emancipation  possibilities  would  be  definitely 
planted  in  the  State.  If  the  second  proposition 
prevailed,  then  "  slavery  shall  no  longer  exist  in 
tho  State  of  Kansas,  except  that  the  right  of  prop- 
erty in  slaves  now  in  this  territory  shall  in  no 
manner  be  interfered  with."  Free-state  men  com- 
monly interpreted  this  qualification  of  the  no-slav- 
ery alternative  as  utterly  foreclosing  all  hope  of 
success  on  their  part.  A  no-slavery  victory  must 
not  disturb  the  slavery  which  had  already  secured 
a  foothold  in  the  commonwealth.  The  alternative 
presented  "  was  like  submitting  to  the  ancient  test 
of  witchcraft,  where  if  the  accused,  upon  being 
thrown  into  deep  water,  floated  he  was  adjudged 
guilty,  taken  out,  and  hanged ;  but  if  he  sunk  and 
was  drowned  he  was  adjudged  not  guilty  —  the 
choice  between  the  verdicts  being  quite  immate- 
rial." When  legitimately  interpreted,  however, 
the  proviso  would  probably  yield  no  such  sense  as 
free-state  exegesis  found  in  it.  This  point  was 
pretty  conclusively  established  by  Senator  Bay- 
ard, who  contended  that  the  right  of  property 
vested  in  existing  slaves,  and  not  in  their  unborn 
children.  That  construction,  he  maintained,  was 
forced  by  the  general  intent  and  scope  of  the 
declaration,  "  Slavery  shall  no  longer  exist  in  the 
State  of  Kansas." 

The    compromise    divided   the   convention,   in 


224  KANSAS. 

which  there  was  a  strong  faction  that  protested 
against  every  sort  of  submission.  "  This  is  a 
grand  humbug,"  said  a  furious  Riley  County  dele- 
gate, echoing  free-state  expositions  of  the  no-slav- 
ery alternative.  "  It  is  not  fair.  ...  I  tell  you 
this  scheme  of  swindling  submission  will  be  the 
blackest  page  in  your  history,  and  we  will  never 
hear  the  end  of  it.  We  won't  make  much  capital 
out  of  it,  I  tell  you.  Those  Black  Republicans 
will  get  to  the  bottom  of  it  so  quick  that  you  '11 
never  cease  to  hear  from  this  dodge.  .  .  .  I  'm  op- 
posed to  submission.  I  tell  you  these  Republicans 
will  vote  down  both  of  them.  .  .  .  The  only  con- 
sistent, honest,  straightforward  way  is  to  make 
onr  constitution  and  send  it  on  to  Congress.  I 
believe  Congress  will  admit  us.  If  it  will  not, 
then  let  our  defeat  lie  at  its  door.  This  humbug- 
ging, dodging  way  I  do  not  believe  in.  I  want  to 
be  open  and  above  board."  Another  Riley  County 
implacable  declaimed  in  the  same  strain.  He  said 
the  compromise  carried  "  falsehood  on  its  face  in 
letters  of  brass.  ...  It  is  a  lie,  cheat,  and  swindle. 
I  'm  a  pro-slavery  man.  I  want  to  make  Kansas 
a  slave  state.  .  .  .  The  trick  was  concocted  by 
free-state  Democrats.  If  they  pass  this  majority 
report  they  will  make  Kansas  not  only  a  free  but 
a  Republican  state.  .  .  .  The  South  has  reached  a 
crisis  in  her  fortunes  and  must  have  Kansas.  .  .  . 
Make  Kansas  a  slave  state  and  the  abolition  ele- 
ment will  flee  out  of  it." 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  225 

The  compromise  was  carried  after  a  stubborn 
fight,  and  the  convention  dissolved  November  7th. 
John  Calhoun  issued  proclamations  designating 
December  21st  as  the  day  for  voting  on  the  slav- 
ery article,  and  January  4th,  1858,  for  election  of 
officers  under  the  new  constitution.  The  conven- 
tion, contemptuously  ignoring  Governor  Walker, 
authorized  its  president  to  take  such  measures 
as  might  be  necessary  to  carry  its  purposes  into 
effect. 

The  sequel  at  Lecompton  again  stirred  the  em- 
bers. Free-state  men  had  taken  comparatively 
little  interest  in  the  convention  during  its  earlier 
stages,  as  they  intended  to  dispatch  at  the  polls 
any  constitution  that  might  be  put  together.  Now, 
to  their  astonishment,  they  found  that  only  a  frag- 
ment of  it  would  be  submitted,  and  to  that  frag- 
ment they  applied  the  fallacious  witch-test  con- 
struction. The  enemy  were  manoeuvring  to  turn 
their  flank  and  convert  the  October  victory  into 
a  barren  triumph.  Mass-meetings  gathered  here 
and  there  in  which  the  "  robber  "  convention  was 
cursed  in  copious  Thersitean  dialect.  Radicals 
demanded  that  now,  after  so  many  empty  threats, 
the  state  government  should  be  made  something 
more  than  a  name.  Among  these  anti-Lecompton 
gatherings,  the  largest  and  most  important  met 
at  Lawrence  on  the  2d  of  December.  The  one 
hundred  and  thirty  delegates  in  attendance  in- 
cluded nearly  all  the  prominent  free-state  leaders. 

15 


226  KANSAS. 

Governor  Robinson  presided.  Impassioned  ha- 
rangues evoked  a  vast  amount  of  enthusiasm. 
Resolutions  were  adopted  alive  with  hostility  to 
the  new  constitution :  "  Appealing  to  the  God 
of  Justice  and  Humanity,  we  do  solemnly  enter 
into  league  and  covenant  with  each  other  that  we 
will  never,  under  any  circumstances,  permit  the 
said  constitution,  so  framed  and  not  submitted, 
to  be  the  organic  law  for  the  State  of  Kansas, 
but  do  pledge  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our 
sacred  honor  in  ceaseless  hostility  to  the  same." 

Amidst  the  general  confusion  and  casting 
about  somebody  bethought  himself  of  the  recently 
captured  and  fumigated  legislature  as  a  possible 
source  of  deliverance,  and  suggested  that  it  should 
be  called  together.  What  it  could  accomplish 
was  uncertain,  but  it  would  not,  at  all  events,  fail 
to  make  itself  useful.  Governor  Walker  had  set 
out  in  chagrin  for  Washington  —  his  astute 
schemes  overset,  execrated  by  pro -slavery  men, 
deserted  by  the  administration.  His  departure 
shifted  all  executive  responsibility  upon  Secretary 
Stanton,  who  was  sorely  beset  on  all  sides  to  con- 
vene the  legislature.  That  step  he  finally  took, 
though  foreseeing  that  it  would  be  followed  by 
his  dismissal  from  office,  of  which  he  received  for- 
mal notification  December  16th. 

The  territorial  legislature,  "  dipped  into  the  tur- 
bid waters  of  Black  Republicanism  "  and  made 
clean,  assembled  at  Lecompton  December  7th. 


THE  LECOMPTON   STRUGGLE.  227 

There  was  a  roistering  free -state  jubilee  that 
day  in  the  old  pro-slavery  stronghold.  From  all 
parts  of  the  territory  came  throngs  of  people  to 
participate  in  the  festivities,  which  comprised 
speeches,  resolutions,  groans  for  the  "  Lecompton 
swindle,"  and  cheers  for  the  Topeka  constitution. 
So  powerful  were  outside  attractions  that  they 
thinned  the  legislature  out  of  a  quorum.  It  could 
do  nothing  until  the  hurrahing  pother  subsided 
and  the  rout  dispersed.  As  a  defense  against  pro- 
slavery  movements,  the  legislature  very  sensibly 
ordered  an  unreserved  submission  of  the  consti- 
tution to  the  people  on  the  4th  of  January.  A 
third  ballot  was  added  to  those  already  author, 
ized,  indorsed  "  Against  the  constitution  formed 
at  Lecompton." 

The  Lawrence  mass-meeting  of  December  2d 
pronounced  the  elections  which  the  Lecompton 
convention  ordered  to  be  unworthy  of  free-state 
countenance.  In  regard  to  the  election  of  De- 
cember 21st,  when  only  pro-slavery  voters  went  to 
the  polls,  the  wisdom  of  its  sentence  was  unques- 
tioned. But  the  January  matter  was  not  so  clear. 
An  impression  got  abroad  that  the  mass-meeting 
had  blundered;  that  it  would  be  prudent  —  an 
anchor  cast  to  the  windward  —  to  furnish  the 
Lecompton  constitution  with  an  equipment  of 
free-state  officials  as  a  precaution  against  possible 
contingencies.  Therefore  the  convention  was  re- 
assembled on  the  23d  of  December  to  review  in 


228  KANSAS. 

part  its  proceedings.  At  this  late'r  session  two 
parties  appeared.  One  faction  defended  and  the 
other  combated  the  proposition  to  put  a  state 
ticket  in  the  field.  To  take  possession  of  a  pos- 
sible state  government,  not  for  purposes  of  estab- 
lishing but  of  destroying  it,  it  was  urged,  was 
a  simple  dictate  of  prudence.  The  radicals  rang 
changes  upon  the  inconsistency  of  such  a  course 
for  free-state  men,  after  calling  the  "Eumenides 
and  all  the  heavenly  brood  "  to  witness  that  they 
would  never  recognize  the  "  Lecompton  swindle  " 
in  any  shape,  and  they  carried  the  day. 

The  defeated  party  immediately  resolved  itself 
into  "  a  bolter's  convention,"  named  a  full  ticket 
of  state  officers,  and  elected  them.  Against  tho 
Lecompton  constitution,  for  which  anti-slavery  of- 
ficers were  provided,  ten  thousand  two  hundred 
and  twenty-six  votes  were  polled.  That  vote, 
though  it  did  not  escape  irregularities  of  form, 
showed  incontrovertibly  the  drift  of  public  senti- 
ment in  the  territory. 

In  the  mean  time  a  new  acting-governor  had 
appeared  in  the  territory  —  General  John  W. 
Denver,  a  Virginian  and  a  lawyer,  well  reputed 
for  successful  service  in  the  Mexican  war  and  in 
California.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment  he 
held  the  office  of  Indian  Commissioner,  was  visit- 
ing Kansas,  and  domiciled  with  Secretary  Stanton. 
"  I  had  been  repeatedly  solicited,"  said  Denver, 
"to  take  the  position,  but  I  did  not  want  it.  I 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.       229 

used  to  live  on  the  border  before  Kansas  was 
thrown  open  to  settlement.  I  chummed  with 
Senator  Atchison  at  Platte  City,  and  knew  per- 
sonally all  the  leading  men  of  western  Missouri. 
I  was  afraid,  if  I  accepted  the  post,  that  they 
might  ask  of  me  what  I  should  not  wish  to  do." 
The  more  conservative  free-state  sentiment  Den- 
ver conciliated  at  the  beginning  of  his  term  of 
office,  by  announcing  that  he  should  carry  out  in 
good  faith  the  policy  of  his  predecessor. 

The  elections  appointed  by  the  Lecompton  con- 
stitutional convention  had  a  long  appendix  of  in- 
vestigations, which  made  havoc  with  the  original 
returns.  A  legislative  committee  examined  them, 
and  reported  that  the  alleged  vote  December  21st, 
of  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  for 
the  constitution  with  slavery,  contained  twenty- 
seven  hundred  and  twenty  fraudulent  ballots, 
which  were  cast  mostly  at  Kickapoo,  Delaware 
Crossing,  and  Oxford.  In  the  contest  for  state 
officers,  January  4th,  the  number  of  fraudulent 
ballots  fell  off  to  twenty-four  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  in  a  pro-slavery  vote  for  governor  of  six 
thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-five. 

A  curious  history  attaches  to  these  election  re- 
turns. The  legislative  investigating  committee 
were  anxious  to  secure  them.  John  Calhoun, 
surveyor  general  and  president  of  the  constitu- 
tional convention,  taking  alarm  at  the  situation, 
prudently  left  the  territory.  The  coveted  "ballots 


280  KANSAS. 

were  supposed  to  be  in  the  hands*  of  L.  A.  Mc- 
Lean, his  chief  clerk,  who  appeared  before  the 
committee  and  testified  that  he  had  forwarded 
them  to  Calhoun.  February  1st  a  messenger 
reached  the  cabin  of  Captain  Samuel  Walker, 
then  sheriff  of  Douglas  County,  bringing  informa- 
tion from  General  William  Brindle  that  the  re- 
turns were  secreted  under  a  wood-pile  near  Mc- 
Lean's office.  Arming  himself  with  a  warrant 
which  instructed  him  to  "  diligently  search  for 
the  said  goods  and  chattels,"  Walker  appeared  in 
Lecompton  the  next  morning  and  apprised  Mc- 
Lean of  his  business.  "  You  are  welcome  to 
search,"  he  responded.  "  I  have  sent  the  returns 
to  Calhoun.  They  are  not  here."  "  I  think  you 
are  mistaken,"  said  the  sheriff.  "  I  know  where 
they  are."  "  Where  ?  "  "  Under  the  wood-pile." 
"  I  forbid  you  to  search,"  McLean  rejoined,  and 
began  some  warlike  demonstrations,  which  were 
speedily  quelled.  Walker  dug  up  the  returns,  con- 
cealed in  a  candle-box,  and  carried  them  to  Law- 
rence. Naturally  the  investigating  committee  de- 
cided to  recall  Chief  Clerk  McLean,  who  con- 
sulted Sheriff  Jones  as  to  whether  he  should  obey 
the  subpoena.  "  I  told  him  to  come  down  and 
face  the  music  ;  he  said  he  was  going  to  Missouri  ; 
I  saw  him  start  toward  the  river  .  .  . ;  I  think  he 
got  a  mule  from  some  one  on  the  road." 

President  Buchanan,  retreating  from  his  pledges 
to  Governor  Walker  in  obedience  to  Southern  die- 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  231 

tation,  transmitted,  February  2d,  the  Lecompton 
constitution  to  Congress,  accompanied  by  a  special 
message,  in  which  he  urged  that  Kansas  should 
be  speedily  admitted  to  the  Union,  though  the  in- 
strument had  not  been  fully  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple. Of  the  actual  condition  of  Kansas  he  was 
not  ignorant.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  terri- 
tory Governor  Denver  forwarded  to  Washington 
by  special  messenger  a  long  communication  fully 
setting  forth  the  state  of  affairs,  and  urgently 
counseling  the"  president  not  to  present  the  Le- 
compton constitution  to  Congress  at  all,  but  to  ad- 
vocate the  passage  of  an  enabling  act  and  let  the 
people  make  a  fresh  start.  Mr.  Buchanan  was 
impressed  by  the  letter.  He  said  "  that  he  was 
very  sorry  that  he  had  not  had  the  information 
sooner,  because  he  had  prepared  his  message  in 
relation  to  the  Lecompton  constitution,  and  had 
shown  it  to  several  senators,  and  could  not  with- 
draw it." 

When  the  Lecompton  constitution  reached 
Washington,  the  general  reputation  of  Kansas  in 
pro-slavery  circles  was  greatly  depressed.  "  The 
whole  history  of  Kansas  is  a  disgusting  one  from  be- 
ginning to  end,"  said  Senator  Hammond,  of  South 
Carolina.  "  I  have  avoided  reading  it  as  much 
as  I  could."  Senator  Biggs,  of  North  Carolina, 
confessed  to  "misgivings  whether  the  people  of 
Kansas  are  of  that  character  from  which  we  may 
hope  for  an  enlightened  self-government."  Repre- 


232  KANSAS. 

sentative  Anderson,  of  Missouri,  fell  little  behind 
the  North  Carolinian  in  unfriendliness  of  opinion  : 
"  No  part  of  our  Union  has  ever  before  been  set- 
tled by  such  an  ungovernable,  reckless  people." 
Mr.  Atkins,  representative  from  Tennessee,  de- 
scribed free-state  immigrants  as  "  struggling  hordes 
of  hired  mercenaries,  carrying  murder,  rapine,  and 
conflagration  in  their  train."  But  Senator  Alfred 
Iverson  topped  all  competitors  in  screechy,  fish- 
wife violence  of  phrase  ;  "  Why,  sir,  if  you  could 
rake  the  infernal  regions  from  the  centre  to  the 
circumference  and  from  the  surface  to  the  bot- 
tom, you  could  not  fish  up  such  a  mass  of  infa- 
mous corruption  as  exists  in  some  portions  of  Kan- 
sas !  "  An  estimate  of  the  Kansas  migration, 
wholly  antipodal  and  dissenting,  may  be  found 
in  the  "Christian  Examiner"  for  July,  1855. 
"  It  was  reserved,"  says  the  writer,  "  to  the  pres- 
ent age,  and  to  the  present  period,  to  afford  the 
sublime  spectacle  of  an  extensive  migration  in 
vindication  of  a  principle.  .  .  .  Neither  pressure 
from  without,  nor  the  beckonings  of  ambition,  nor 
the  monitions  of  avarice,  control  the  great  Kansas 
migration.  ...  In  the  unselfishness  of.  the  object 
lies  its  claim  ...  to  the  highest  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  migrations !  " 

Arguments  in  defense  of  the  Lecompton  meas- 
ure —  the  debate  filled  more  than  nine  hundred 
pages  of  the  "  Congressional  Globe  "  —  made  the 
most  of  technicalities.  Samuel  A.  Smith,  repre- 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.       233 

sentative  from  Tennessee,  stood  almost  alone  in 
advocacy  of  its  claims  to  popular  approval.  "  The 
whole  people  of  Kansas,"  he  said,  "  are  in  favor 
of  the  admission  of  the  State  under  the  Lecomp- 
ton  constitution,"  except  "Lane  with  his  ma- 
rauders, his  murderers,  and  his  house-burners  " 
—  an  insignificant  gang  that  did  not  "  number 
more  than  eight  hundred."  Foolish  talk  of  this 
sort  found  little  favor.  For  the  constitution  there 
was  a  single  tenable  line  of  defense  —  that  it  was 
the  work  of  a  legitimate  convention  which  had 
observed  all  indispensable  formalities.  The  suc- 
cessive stages  of  its  history  were  elaborately  re- 
hearsed. The  constitution  dates  back  to  the  first 
territorial  legislature  which  submitted  to  the  peo- 
ple the  question  of  calling  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion. Fifteen  months  afterwards  —  a  period  ample 
for  mature  consideration  —  they  respond  favora- 
bly at  the  polls.  After  a  lapse  of  three  months 
the  question  reaches  the  second  territorial  legisla- 
ture, which  "bows  to  the  will  of  the  people  and 
provides  ffor  the  election  of  delegates."  Then 
between  the  legislative  sanction  and  the  election 
of  delegates  four  months  intervene.  Before  the 
delegates  meet  and  enter  upon  their  duties  a  fur- 
ther delay  of  three  months  occurs.  They  submit 
a  single  but  vital  article  of  the  constitution  to 
the  people  for  acceptance  or  rejection,  Decem- 
ber 21st,  and  they  ratify  it  almost  unanimously. 
"When  we  view  these  proceedings  of  the  peo- 


234  KANSAS. 

pie  of  Kansas,"  said  Senator  Polk,  of  Missouri, 
"in  forming  for  themselves  a  state  constitution, 
in  the  successive  stages  of  their  development, 
not  from  the  low  arena  of  partisan  strife  and  pas- 
sion, but  from  the  elevated  standpoint  of  a  pa- 
triot, .  .  .  what  a  majestic  spectacle  is  presented 
—  the  people  marching  forward  in  stately  pace 
to  the  accomplishment  of  their  purposes  with  a 
movement  as  grand  as  the  lapse  of  the  tide  or  the 
travel  of  a  planet !  " 

Though  there  could  be  no  real  question  that 
the  Lecompton  constitution  was  not  "  the  act  and 
deed  "  of  the  people  of  Kansas  ;  though  Douglas 
and  other  Northern  Democrats  fought  it,  yet  it 
passed  the  Senate  March  23d  by  a  vote  of  thirty- 
three  to  twenty-five.  In  the  House  the  Lecomp- 
ton constitution  failed.  There  a  substitute  was 
carried,  known  as  the  "  Crittenden-Montgomery 
bill,"  which  referred  it  back  to  the  people.  Should 
they  ratify  it,  then  Kansas  would  be  proclaimed  a 
state  within  the  Union  without  further  ado.  If 
they  voted  it  down,  they  were  to  call  a  oiew  con- 
vention and  make  a  constitution  that  pleased  them 
better.  The  sharp-eyed  "  Democratic  Review  " 
did  not  fail  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  in 
espousing  the  Crittenden-Montgomery  bill  Re- 
publican congressmen  accepted  the  doctrine  of 
popular  sovereignty.  It  was  the  same  doctrine 
which  they  stigmatized  in  1854—56  "  as  an  outrage 
upon  public  honor,  ...  as  a  departure  from  justice 


THE  LECOMPTON  STRUGGLE.  235 

and  from  the  original  policy  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment." 

The  Senate  rejected  the  substitute,  and  there 
was  resort  to  a  committee  of  conference :  J.  S. 
Green,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  and  W.  H.  Sevvard  rep- 
resenting the  Senate  ;  W.  H.  English,  A.  H. 
Stephens,  and  W.  A.  Howard  the  House.  This 
committee  —  Seward  and  Howard  dissenting  — 
elaborated  a  novel  measure  called  the  "  English 
bill."  An  ordinance  accompanied  the  Lecomp- 
ton  constitution  which  asked  the  cession  of  land- 
grants  which  were  much  larger  than  any  other 
state  had  ever  received  on  its  entrance  into  the 
Union.  In  these  land-grants  the  committee  sug- 
gested a  change.  They  proposed  to  reduce  the 
twenty-three  million  acres  of  land  claimed  to 
about  one  sixth  of  that  amount.  The  fate  of  the 
constitution  they  linked  with  that  of  the  land- 
grants.  To  accept  the  modified  ordinance  was 
accounted  by  some  curious  doctrine  of  imputation 
as  approval  of  the  constitution,  and  at  once  clothed 
Kansas  with  the  functions  of  a  state.  Rejection 
of  it,  on  the  other  hand,  involved  not  only  rejec- 
tion of  the  constitution,  but  continuance  of  terri- 
torial conditions  until  a  population  of  ninety-four 
thousand  should  be  reached.  The  majority  re- 
port, which  stoutly  denied  that  any  such  thing  as 
submission  of  the  Lecompton  constitution  to  the 
people  lurked  in  this  unhackneyed  device,  was  a 
very  excellent  piece  of  quibbling.  The  constitu- 


236  KANSAS. 

tion  we  accept,  its  validity  we  acknowledge,  it  was 
urged,  but  we  do  not  like  the  ordinance.  \Ve  are 
willing  to  waive  the  population  rule,  provided  the 
vexatious  business  can  be  concluded.  If  Kansas 
should  reject  our  overture,  it  may  remain  a  ter- 
ritory until  better  manners  are  learned  and  a 
larger  and  more  stable  population  is  obtained. 

Though  objections  were  plenty  —  charges  of  un- 
warrantable discrimination,  of  intervention  with 
inducements  to  control  results,  of  violence  to  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty  —  yet  the  English 
bill  gave  the  people  of  Kansas  opportunity  to  put 
their  heel  on  the  odious  Lecompton  instrument, 
and  that  consideration  carried  it  through  Congress. 
The  vote  of  the  Senate  stood,  ayes,  thirty-one; 
nays,  twenty -two  —  of  the  House,  ayes,  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  ;  nays,  one  hundred  and  three. 
Pro-slavery  partisans  espoused  it ;  not  all  of  them 
heartily.  "  I  confess  my  opinion  was,"  said  Sen- 
ator Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  speech 
October  29th,  1858,  at  Barn  well  Court  House, 
"  that  the  South  herself  should  kick  that  [Le- 
compton] constitution  out  of  Congress.  But  the 
South  thought  otherwise."  In  Kansas  the  ques- 
tion came  to  a  decision  August  2d.  Thirteen  thou- 
sand and  eighty-eight  votes  were  cast  —  eleven 
thousand  three  hundred  of  them  against  the  Eng- 
lish proposition. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

JAYHAWEING. 

GEOGRAPHICALLY  the  capital  events  of  Kansas 
history  in  the  territorial  days  covered  a  narrow 
space.  With  Lawrence  for  a  centre,  the  revolu- 
tion of  a  radius  thirty  miles  in  length  would  in- 
clude them  all.  Yet  the  Southeast,  embracing 
Bourbon,  Linn,  and  Miami  counties,  though  con- 
tributing little  to  the  ultimate  results  of  the  strug- 
gle, is  not  destitute  of  picturesque  and  sanguinary 
exhibitions  of  border  lawlessness. 

At  the  outset,  and  for  a  considerable  period,  pro- 
slavery  settlers  had  a  comparatively  clear  field  in 
the  Southeast,  as  it  lay  off  the  line  of  Northern 
immigration.  "  It  has  occurred  to  our  friends,"  a 
correspondent  of  the  Kansas  Association  of  South 
Carolina  wrote  from  Platte  City,  Missouri,  "  that 
it  would  be  better,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  and  as 
being  more  Southern  —  more  agreeable  to  the 
Southern  emigrants  —  that  a  good  portion  of  them 
would  settle  south  of  the  Kansas  River.  By  this 
means  we  will  secure  the  southern  half  of  the  ter- 
ritory before  it  is  filled  by  abolitionists  ;  the  north- 
ern half  will  be  saved  by  Missourians.  ...  I 


238  KANSAS. 

would  suggest  that  you  should  seek,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  induce  all  who  have  a  small  number  of 
slaves  to  come  out.  To  such,  this  is  a  peculiarly 
desirable  country,  and  they  need  have  no  fear  of 
slaves  escaping."  Fort  Scott  —  a  federal  military 
post  from  1842  to  1854  —  was  the  principal  town 
of  the  Southeast,  and  began  to  have  some  reputa- 
tion as  a  border-ruffian  stronghold  in  1856.  The 
arrival  of  armed  "  settlers  "  from  the  South  laid 
the  foundation  of  that  reputation  which  was  largely 
increased  afterwards  by  accessions  from  Lecomp- 
ton. 

As  abolitionists  were  not  plenty  in  the  South- 
east, the  Southerners  at  first  found  their  opportu- 
nities for  usefulness  rather  limited.  But  in  Au- 
gust, 1856,  the  monotony  was  broken  by  news  of 
General  Reid's  intended  attack  upon  Osawato- 
mie.  Ambitious  to  share  in  the  glory  of  destroy- 
ing that  town,  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  collected 
at  Fort  Scott  and  marched  northward.  When  en- 
camped in  Liberty  township,  eight  or  ten  miles 
south  of  Osawatomie,  they  were  surprised  by  a 
hundred  free-state  guerrillas  just  as  they  thought 
of  dining.  So  rude  and  uncivil  an  invitation  to 
fight  could  not  be  accepted,  and  the  company  fled 
in  the  greatest  confusion,  "  leaving,"  as  an  eye- 
witness says,  "their  baggage  and  most  of  their 
horses,  boots,  coats,  vests,  hats,  and  a  dinner  ready 
cooked,"  not  to  mention  a  black  flag  on  which  was 
inscribed  in  red  letters  "  Victory  or  Death."  The 


JA  YffA  WRING.  239 

fugitives  mostly  fled  toward  Fort  Scott,  where 
they  arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  fully 
persuaded  that  the  abolitionists  were  at  their 
heels.  The  town  was  roused.  Panic-stricken  men 
and  women,  believing  it  would  be  given  over  to 
fire  and  sword,  wildly  escaped  anywhere  chance 
or  instinct  might  lead.  Quite  a  large  company 
took  refuge  in  a  cabin  at  considerable  distance 
from  the  village.  Soon  rumors  came  that  the 
work  of  slaughter  and  pillage  had  actually  begun, 
and  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion  followed. 
Englishmen,  harried  by  Northern  pirates,  found 
consolation  in  the  petition,  "  Good  Lord,  deliver 
us  from  the  Danes ;  "  and  why  should  not  the  aid 
of  Heaven  be  invoked  against  Northern  abolition- 
ists ?  A  season  of  prayer  was  suggested,  and  the 
ensuing  devotions  had  no  lack  of  fervor  or  unanim- 
ity. The  alarm  proved  groundless.  When  day 
dawned  the  town  was  found  to  be  safe,  and  no 
abolitionists  could  be  seen. 

During  the  autumn  of  1856  Indian  Agent  G. 
W.  Clarke,  with  a  picked-up  gang  of  Missouri- 
ans,  overran  portions  of  Linn  and  Miami  counties 
into  which  considerable  Northern  population  had 
sifted.  He  threw  down  fences,  destroyed  crops, 
seized  horses  and  cattle,  burnt  a  few  cabins,  and 
occasionally  drove  an  obnoxious  settler  out  of 
the  country.  "  Clarke's  company,"  said  one  of  the 
victims,  "  took  everything  they  wanted,  and  I 
think  they  took  what  they  did  not  want,  to  keep 


240  KANSAS. 

their  hands  in  —  had  ribbons  on  their  hats,  side 
combs  in  their  hair,  and  other  things  they  did  not 
need."  An  old  soldier  gave  his  impressions  of  the 
raid  before  the  Strickler  Commission  :  "  I  was 
in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  have  fought  in  the 
wars  of  the  United  States,  and  have  received  two 
land-warrants  from  Washington  City  for  my  ser- 
vices, but  I  never  saw  anything  so  bad  and  mean 
in  my  life  as  I  saw  under  General  Clarke." 

Free-state  men  in  the  Southeast,  comparatively 
isolated,  having  little  communication  with  Law- 
rence, and  consequently  almost  wholly  without 
check,  developed  a  successful  if  not  very  praise- 
worthy system  of  retaliation.  Confederated  at 
first  for  defense  against  pro-slavery  outrages,  but 
ultimately  falling  more  or  less  completely  into  the 
vocation  of  robbers  and  assassins,  they  have  re- 
ceived the  name  —  whatever  its  origin  may  be  — 
of  jayhawkers.1 

1  In  Bartlett's  Dictionary  of  Americanisms  jayhawker  is  said 
to  be  a  corruption  of  "  Gay  Yorker,"  a  phrase  applied  to  an 
eminent  exemplar  of  the  business,  Colonel  Jennison.  A  more 
plausible  derivation  traces  the  word  to  a  dare-devil  Irishman,  by 
the  name  of  Pat  Devlin.  One  morning  in  the  summer  of  1856, 
a  neighbor  is  said  to  have  met  him  returning  from  a  foraging 
expedition,  laden  with  spoils.  "  Where  have  you  been,  Pat  ?  " 
"  Jayhawking,"  was  the  reply.  "  Jayhawking  1  What 's  that  ?  " 
"  Well,"  continued  the  philological  bush-ranger,  "  in  the  old  coun- 
try we  have  a  bird  called  the  jayhawk,  which  kind  o'  worries  its 
prey.  It  seemed  to  me  as  I  was  riding  home  that  this  was  what 
I  had  been  doing."  As  the  evidence  now  stands,  whatever  lin- 
guistic honors  accrue  from  the  word  "  Jayhawking  "  belong  to 
Pat. 


JA  YHA  WRING.  241 

The  best  known  leader  in  the  jayhawking  ep- 
isode is  James  Montgomery.  Born  in  Ohio,  a 
resident  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri  for  seventeen 
years,  he  reached  Linn  County  in  August,  1854, 
and  thenceforth  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Southeast.  He  was  courageous,  an 
effective  talker  —  a  qualification  that  served  him 
to  good  purpose  —  not  devoid  of  craft  and  strat- 
agem, but  without  large  mental  or  executive  force. 

Montgomery's  tactics  after  Clarke's  raid  were 
characteristic.  To  obtain  a  list  of  the  men  con- 
cerned in  it  he  visited  Missouri  in  the  disguise  of 
a  teacher  searching  for  a  school,  which  he  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  and  actually  taught  for  two 
weeks  —  long  enough  to  get  the  information  he 
wished.  That  secured,  the  school  suddenly  closed, 
and  the  school-master  soon  reappeared  transformed 
into  a  guerrilla  chief.  Twenty  of  the  ex-raiders 
were  captured  and  pretty  thoroughly  spoiled  of 
money,  weapons,  and  horses. 

Though  months  of  disorder  followed,  yet,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Marais  des  Cygnes  massacre, 
Clarke's  raid  was  the  last  considerable  dash  from 
Missouri  into  the  territory  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  for  the  Union.  In  these  aggressions  jay- 
hawkers  seem  to  have  taken  the  lead,  and  they 
established  a  freebooting  reputation  that  fairly  in- 
timidated pro-slavery  adherents.  The  accounts  of 
marauding  incursions  from  Missouri,  which  ap- 
peared in  contemporary  prints,  were  mostly  ca- 
16 


242  KANSAS. 

nards  circulated  by  jayhawkers  as  *an  excuse  for 
their  own  depredations.  They  occasionally  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  Lawrence  with  a  budget 
of  exaggerated  or  manufactured  pro-slavery  out- 
rages, to  keep  alive  their  reputation  as  struggling, 
self-denying,  afflicted  patriots. 

Disturbances  continued  intermittently  until 
December,  1857,  when  claim  difficulties  of  more 
than  ordinary  consequence  occurred.  A  delega- 
tion representing  the  jayhawking  interest  had 
been  in  Lawrence  to  enlist  Lane  in  their  cause,  but 
he  was  absorbed  with  agitations  against  the  Le- 
compton  constitution,  and  could  give  them  no  per- 
sonal assistance.  However,  a  small  company  from 
the  vicinity  of  Lawrence,  led  by  Captain  J.  B. 
Abbott,  returned  with  the  messengers,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  investigating  affairs  and  of  lending  any 
assistance  to  free-state  men  that  might  be  possible 
or  advisable.  Soon  after  their  arrival  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Fort  Scott  some  land  dispute  came  to  a 
crisis.  A  Missourian  was  charged  with  "  jump- 
ing "  the  claim  of  a  free-state  settler.  Whether 
that  was  actually  the  case,  or  whether  an  enter- 
prising jayhawker  wished  to  drive  him  out  of  the 
territory  as  a  step  preparatory  to  seizing  his  prop- 
erty, is  not  wholly  clear.  At  all  events,  the  Mis- 
sourian was  arrested  and  arraigned  before  an  im- 
promptu squatters'  court,  the  officers  of  which 
were  mostly  drawn  from  the  Lawrence  party. 
None  of  the  usual  judicial  appurtenances  —  judge, 
counsel,  sheriff,  jury  —  were  omitted. 


JA  YEA  WK1NG.  243 

Intelligence  of  the  proceedings  of  this  uncon- 
ventional court  came  to  the  ears  of  Federal  Mar- 
shal Little  at  Fort  Scott,  and  he  sallied  forth  with 
a  small  armed  escort  on  a  reconnaissance.  The 
court,  hearing  of  his  approach,  suddenly  aban- 
doned its  judicial  functions  and  prepared  to  fight. 
When  the  marshal  appeared  and  asked  for  expla- 
nations he  was  assured,  with  all  the  gravity  of 
truth-telling,  that  the  legislature  then  in  session 
had  repealed  the  entire  code  framed  at  Shawnee 
Mission,  that  a  provisional  committee  had  been 
appointed  to  conduct  the  government  of  the  terri- 
tory until  a  new  code  could  be  framed,  and  that 
there  was,  consequently,  nothing  for  him  to  en- 
force. 

The  court  successfully  threw  dust  in  the  mar- 
shal's eyes,  and  he  returned  to  Fort  Scott.  Soon 
discovering  that  he  had  been  duped,  Little  gath- 
ered a  second  and  larger  expedition,  and  set  out 
again,  determined  effectually  to  disbar  the.  insolent 
attorneys.  On  his  return  there  was  a  suitable 
preamble  of  parley.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said  in  a 
very  black  mood,  "  you  will  understand  that  you 
are  dealing  with  the  United  States,  and  not  with 
border  ruffians.  You  will  learn  that  there  is  a 
difference  between  them.  I  order  you  to  surren- 
der and  prepare  to  accompany  me  to  Fort  Scott." 
The  court  scouted  the  idea/  Half  an  hour  was 
allowed  for  reflection,  with  an  intimation  from 
Little  that  if  the  period  of  grace  brought  forth 


244  KANSAS. 

no  works  meet  for  repentance  he  'should  "blow 
them  all  to  hell."  At  the  expiration  of  thirty 
minutes  —  no  signs  of  surrender  appearing  —  the 
marshal  ordered  a  charge  upon  the  recent  judi- 
ciary, members  of  which  were  partly  intrenched 
in  a  log-cabin,  and  partly  posted  behind  neigh- 
boring trees.  A  dozen  Sharpe's  rifles  responded 
to  the  charge,  and  that  spoiled  all  the  fun  in  a 
twinkling.  Numerous  loungers  and  roughs,  who 
accompanied  the  expedition  as  a  fine  lark,  dis- 
liked the  appearance  of  things,  and  the  road  to- 
ward Fort  Scott  smoked  with  the  precipitation 
of  their  return.  Rumors  of  the  encounter  blew 
about  the  territory  with  various  exaggerations. 
Reinforcements  hurried  down  from  Lawrence. 
Marshal  Little's  force  was  considerably  increased, 
but  belligerents  finally  drew  off,  and  there  was  no 
more  fighting. 

In  the  spring  of  1858  Captain  Charles  A.  Ham- 
ilton surpassed  all  preceding  guerrilla  exploits  by 
a  deed  "which  the  ibis  and  crocodile  trembled 
at."  Hamilton  was  a  Georgian,  of  excellent  fam- 
ily and  reared  in  wealth.  Restless  and  fond  of 
adventure,  his  ear  was  caught  by  the  Kansas  cru- 
sade proclaimed  in  Georgia  in  1856.  He  set- 
tled in  Linn  County  and  built  a  substantial  log- 
house,  which  served  as  political  headquarters  for 
the  vicinity.  But  Hamilton  hardly  maintained 
himself  against  the  superior  prowess  of  the  jay- 
hawkers,  and  with  the  decline  of  the  pro-slavery 


JA  YEA  WK1NG.  245 

cause  in  the  territory  soured  into  desperation. 
He  resolved  that  the  victors  should  pay  heavily 
for  their  success,  and  compiled  a  list  of  obnoxious 
men  in  his  neighborhood  whom  he  planned  to  seize 
and  execute.  This  death  catalogue  in  some  way 
fell  into  Montgomery's  hands,  who  immediately 
took  measures  to  kill  the  compiler.  He  caught 
him  in  his  log-house,  to  which  he  laid  siege,  but 
was  driven  off  by  federal  troops  before  he  could 
effect  his  purpose. 

Then  a  lull  followed,  the  opinion  became  gen- 
eral that  Hamilton  would  not  push  his  schemes  of 
assassination,  precautions  were  relaxed,  and  vig- 
ilance grew  weary ;  but  it  was  a  fatal  calm,  — 

"  Like  the  dread  stillness  of  condensing  storms." 

Hamilton  suddenly  appeared  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Trading  Post  May  19th,  1858,  with  a 
gang  of  Missourians,  and  began  to  scour  the  region 
for  his  enemies,  political  and  personal.  He  was 
particularly  anxious  to  capture  a  certain  resolute, 
saucy,  belligerent  blacksmith  —  Captain  Eli  Sny- 
der  —  with  whom  he  had  an  altercation  not  long 
before.  Snyder,  armed  with  a  shot-gun  "loaded 
with  sixteen  buckshot,"  encountered  Hamilton 
and  one  or  two  companions  near  Trading  Post. 
A  spirited  colloquy  followed.  "  Where  are  you 
going?  "  Hamilton  demanded.  "You  are  going 
to  Trading  Post."  "  If  you  know  better  than  I 
do  why  do  you  ask  ?  "  "  If  you  don't  look  out, 


246  KANSAS. 

I  '11  blow  you  through,"  growled. -the  Georgian. 
Snyder  leveled  his  shot-gun  —  "  If  you  don't  leave 
I  '11  tumble  you  from  your  horse."  The  interview 
concluded  abruptly.  "  I  afterwards  mentioned 
the  affair  to  Old  John  Brown,"  said  Snyder,  "  and 
he  remarked — 'If you  had  killed  Hamilton  what 
a  mangling  up  it  would  have  saved  !  The  Dutch 
Henry  business  was  at  the  right  time  ! ' 

Hamilton,  with  a  small  detachment  of  his  gang, 
gave  personal  attention  to  the  capture  of  Black- 
smith Snyder  whom  he  found  at  work  in  his  shop. 
One  of  the  visitors  entered  and  made  the  colorless 
announcement  —  "A  man  wants  to  see  you."  Sny- 
der appeared  —  "Good  morning,  Mr.  Hamilton." 
"  I  've  got  you,"  hissed  the  cut-throat.  "  Yes  — 
what  do  you  want  ? "  retorted  the  blacksmith, 
striking  one  of  the  horses  which  were  crowding 
around  him  a  smart  blow  that  threw  all  the  pistols 
out  of  range,  and  enabled  him  to  regain  the  shop, 
and  secure  his  gun.  Though  severely  wounded, 
Snyder  managed  to  reach  his  cabin  a  few  rods 
distant.  His  young  son  covered  his  retreat  with 
a  double-barreled  shot-gun.  "Burn  the  devils," 
he  shouted,  as  the  boy  opened  fire ;  "  cut  away 
at  them  with  the  other  barrel."  The  party  re- 
tired in  discomfiture. 

Elsewhere  the  desperadoes  met  with  better  suc- 
cess. Out  of  a  considerable  number  of  prisoners 
eleven  were  selected,  marched  off  to  a  neighboring 
gulch,  and  drawn  up  in  line  before  their  captors. 


JA  YHA  WRING.  247 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  one  of  the  eleven,  among  whom 
there  was  no  flinching  or  parleying,  "  if  you  are 
going  to  shoot,  take  good  aim."  "  Ready,"  Ham- 
ilton shouted,  but  before  he  could  speak  the  word 
"  Fire,"  a  repenting  ruffian  turned  away,  and  said, 
with  an  oath  —  "I  '11  have  nothing  to  do  with  such 
a  piece  of  business  as  this."  Hamilton  discharged 
his  own  pistol,  and  a  general  volley  followed.  The 
entire  line  of  prisoners  went  down  —  five  of  them 
killed  outright,  five  wounded,  and  one  unharmed. 

The  shocking  affair  produced  a  tremendous  ex- 
citement far  and  wide.  There  was  a  hot,  clatter- 
ing, idle  pursuit  of  the  assassins.  Justice  overtook 
but  one  of  them,  and  that  after  a  delay  of  five 
years. 

The  authorities  at  Lecompton  did  not  lay  the 
responsibility  for  a  state  of  things  that  culminated 
in  the  Marais  des  Cygnes  assassinations  wholly  or 
chiefly  at  the  door  of  pro-slavery  men.  At  all 
events,  soon  after  receiving  intelligence  of  them, 
Governor  Denver  placed  warrants  in  the  hands  of 
Deputy  Marshal,  Captain  Samuel  Walker  for  the 
arrest  of  Montgomery.  When  Walker  reached 
Raysville,  ten  or  fifteen  miles  northwest  of  Fort 
Scott,  he  found  a  large  convention  in  session. 
"  What  are  you  after  ? "  asked  an  acquaintance 
under  his  breath.  "  I  've  come  down  to  take 
Montgomery."  "  You  can't  do  it.  That  thing 's 
out  of  the  question."  The  marshal  concluded  that 
it  would  be  wise  to  keep  his  writs  out  of  sight. 


248  KANSAS. 

"  I  don't  know  Montgomery,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
don't  wish  to  have  him  pointed  out.  If  he  is,  I 
shall  have  to  make  an  effort  to  take  him." 

The  speaking,  inflamed  by  the  recent  massacre, 
proceeded  with  furious  energy.  Nothing  less  than 
the  extinction  of  Fort  Scott — an  infamous  nest  of 
border  ruffianism  which  was  at  that  moment  shel- 
tering some  of  the  Marais  des  Cygnes  murderers  — 
would  pacify  the  convention.  The  authorities 
sent  down  sheriffs  to  arrest  free-state  men,  but 
they  shunned  that  vile  robbers'  den.  The  sneer 
brought  Walker  to  his  feet.  He  volunteered  to 
serve  any  warrants  in  Fort  Scott  with  which  he 
might  be  furnished,  and  the  proposal  touched  a 
popular  chord.  An  unexpected  difficulty  threat- 
ened to  frustrate  the  whole  enterprise.  Nobody 
could  be  found  authorized  to  issue  the  necessary 
papers.  "  Get  a  common  justice's  writ,"  said 
Walker,  "  and  I  '11  go,  though  as  a  federal  officer 
I  have  no  business  to  serve  it." 

Walker,  escorted  by  Montgomery  incognito, 
reached  Fort  Scott  on  the  30th,  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  the  house  of  G.  W.  Clarke,  who,  as 
leader  of  the  Linn  County  raid  in  1856  as  well  as 
for  other  reasons,  had  incurred  great  unpopular- 
ity in  free -state  quarters.  The  marshal  vainly 
pounded  upon  the  door  with  his  fist,  and  then  tried 
the  butt  of  his  pistol  without  eliciting  any  response. 
But  the  town  was  astir.  The  street  swarmed 
with  Clarke's  friends  armed  to  the  teeth,  while 


JA  TEA  WRING.  249 

Montgomery  and  his  band  were  fully  prepared  for 
anything  that  might  happen.  Walker,  having 
procured  some  heavy  iron  implement  from  a  gov- 
ernment wagon  standing  near,  was  about  to  renew 
his  attack  on  the  door  when  Clarke  thrust  his  head 
from  a  window,  and  offered  to  surrender.  In  a  few 
moments  the  door  swung  open,  and  he  appeared 
curiously  accoutred.  His  wife  clung  to  one  arm, 
and  his  daughter  to  the  other,  while  in  his  hands 
there  was  an  old-fashioned  cavalry  carbine.  Very 
properly  Clarke  wished  to  examine  the  marshal's 
papers,  which  that  gentleman  declined  to  ex- 
hibit, since  legally  they  were  of  no  more  account 
than  a  handful  of  pages  plucked  from  the  life 
of  Jack  the  Giant  Killer.  "  I  '11  give  you  two 
minutes  to  surrender,"  thundered  the  marshal, 
drawing  his  pistol.  "  I  heard  the  click  of  rifles 
about  me,"  Walker  relates,  "  as  I  covered  Clarke 
with  my  revolver.  There  was  a  silence  like  death. 
Nobody  said  a  word.  Major  Williams  held  his 
watch  to  count  the  time.  I  saw  nothing  except 
the  ruffian  before  me.  I  was  told  that  pro-slavery 
rifles  were  pointed  at  me  while  my  escort  aimed  at 
Clarke.  It  was  a  mighty  solemn  state  of  affairs. 
The  two  minutes,  I  think,  must  have  almost  ex- 
pired when  Clarke,  white  as  a  sheet,  handed  me 
his  carbine."  Walker  afterwards  arrested  Mont- 
gomery himself,  but  all  the  prisoners  managed  to 
escape,  and  he  returned  to  Lecompton  empty- 
handed. 


250  KANSAS. 

The  escort  retired  in  a  soured;  disappointed 
frame  of  mind.  A  dramatic  tableau  which  dis- 
solved and  left  no  rack  of  vengeance  behind  — 
whatever  may  be  said  of  it  from  a  scenical  point 
of  view  —  failed  to  satisfy  the  matter-of-fact  jay- 
hawkers.  They  projected  a  second  expedition, 
hoping  to  retrieve  thereby  the  inconsequence  of 
the  first.  On  the  night  of  June  6th,  Montgomery 
made  a  descent  upon  the  town.  Quietly  securing 
the  sentinels  before  they  could  raise  an  alarm,  he 
applied  the  torch  to  some  of  the  public  buildings 
and  retreated  to  a  neighboring  ravine.  An  alarm 
was  shortly  raised,  and  citizens  hurriedly  collected 
to  extinguish  the  conflagration,  when  the  maraud- 
ers skulking  in  the  ravine  opened  fire.  Never  was 
a  crowd  taken  more  completely  by  surprise  or  dis- 
persed more  precipitately,  though  replying  to  the 
attack,  when  some  covert  had  been  reached,  with 
an  irregular,  spluttering  fusillade.  The  attempted 
incendiarism  did  not  prosper.  It  accomplished 
nothing  beyond  a  little  blackening  and  charring. 
A  lively  scare,  houses  fire -stained  and  bullet- 
marked,  an  interesting  exhibition  of  helter-skel- 
tering  —  such  is  the  summary  of  results. 

Finally,  Governor  Denver,  accompanied  by  Gov- 
ernor Robinson,  made  a  tour  through  the  South- 
east, with  a  view  to  composing,  by  personal 
intervention,  the  difficulties  which  had  so  long 
distracted  it.  They  visited  different  points  and 
were  kindly  received.  On  the  14th  of  June  the 


JA  YHA  WRING.  251 

trip  reached  a  sort  of  climax  at  Fort  Scott,  where 
there  was  a  large  mass-meeting  and  full  service  of 
speeches.  Governor  Denver  made  a  conciliatory 
address.  "  I  shall  treat  actual  settlers,"  he  said, 
"  without  regard  to  former  differences.  I  do  not 
propose  to  dig  up  or  review  the  past.  Both  par- 
ties, I  believe,  have  done  wrong  and  are  worthy 
of  censure,  but  I  shall  let  all  that  go.  My  mis- 
sion is  to  secure  peace  for  the  future."  The 
governor  suggested  the  election  of  new  county 
officers,  the  patrolling  of  the  border  by  federal 
troops,  delay  in  the  execution  of  old  writs  until 
they  should  pass  the  ordeal  of  competent  judicial 
tribunals,  and  the  dispersion  of  all  guerrilla  bands. 
These  measures  received  general  approval,  and 
introduced  a  few  weeks  of  comparative  repose. 

Shortly  after  Governor  Denver's  peace-making 
tour  Old  John  Brown,  absent  for  some  months, 
reappeared  in  Kansas  —  an  untranquilizing  event. 
Treachery  on  the  part  of  a  confidant  led  to  post- 
ponement of  the  contemplated  Virginia  campaign, 
and  his  return  was  a  feint  to  throw  the  public  off 
the  scent.  During  his  absence  in  the  East  Brown 
was  able,  with  the  assistance  of  friends,  to  put  his 
family,  which  remained  at  North  Elba,  New  York, 
on  a  more  comfortable  footing  than  had  been 
their  fortune. 

"  For  one  thousand  dollars  cash,"  he  wrote  Mr.  Law- 
rence from  New  Haven,  Conn.,  March  19th,  1857,  "  I  am 
offered  an  improved  piece  of  land,  which,  .  .  .  might 


252  KANSAS. 

enable  my  family,  consisting  of  a  wife"  and  five  minor 
children  (the  youngest  not  yet  three  years  old),  to  pro- 
cure a  subsistence  should  I  never  return  to  them  ;  my 
wife  being  a  good  economist  and  a  real  old-fashioned 
business  woman.  She  has  gone  through  the  two  past 
winters  in  our  open,  cold  house  ;  unfinished  outside  and 
not  plastered.  ...  I  have  never  hinted  to  any  one  else 
that  I  thought  of  asking  for  any  help  to  provide  in  any 
such  way  for  my  family.  ...  If  you  feel  at  all  inclined 
to  encourage  me  in  the  measure  I  have  proposed  I  shall 
be  grateful  to  get  a  line  from  you.  ...  Is  my  appeal 
right?" 

John  Brown's  final  visit  to  Kansas  lasted  about 
six  months.  That  interval  he  spent  mainly  in  the 
Southeast.  On  his  way  thither  he  stopped  in 
Lawrence  and  had  a  talk  with  Governor  Robin- 
son —  "  You  have  succeeded,"  he  said,  "  in  what 
you  undertook.  You  aimed  to  make  of  Kansas  a 
free  state,  and  your  plans  were  skillfully  laid  for 
that  purpose.  But  I  had  another  object  in  view. 
I  meant  to  strike  a  blow  at  slavery." 

In  the  Southeast  Brown  attempted  nothing  of 
importance,  except  an  expedition  across  the  Mis- 
souri line  in  December,  which  resulted  in  the  de- 
struction of  considerable  property,  the  liberation 
of  eleven  slaves,  and  the  death  of  a  slave-owner. 
The  raid  caused  great  excitement,  especially  in 
Missouri,  and  resulted  in  legislative  action,  which 
brought  the  territorial  jayhawking  era  substanti- 
ally to  a  close.  During  the  autumn  Governor 


JAYHAWKING.  253 

Stewart,  of  Missouri,  opened  correspondence  with 
Governor  Denver  and  with  President  Buchanan 
in  regard  to  the  troubles.  He  informed  Denver 
that  it  might  be  "  necessary  to  station  an  armed 
force  along  the  border,  in  Missouri,  for  purposes 
of  protection."  Governor  Denver  promised  to 
leave  nothing  undone  to  suppress  the  outrages, 
but  hoped  that  it  might  not  be  necessary  for  Mis- 
souri to  put  an  armed  force  into  the  field.  August 
9th  Governor  Stewart  wrote  President  Buchanan 
that  he  had  ordered  a  body  of  militia  into  Cass 
and  Bates  counties,  because  they  "  have  been  sub- 
jected to  the  repeated  depredations  of  one  or  more 
marauding  parties  from  the  territory  of  Kansas, 
in  consequence  of  which  there  is  no  security  for 
either  life  or  property.  Citizens  of  Missouri  have 
been  driven  from  their  homes,  their  property 
taken  or  destroyed,  and  their  farms  laid  waste ; 
and  without  the  protection  of  an  armed  force  our 
citizens  have  not  dared  to  return  to  their  homes 
to  reside."  These  measures  allayed  the  disorders, 
and  there  was  no  further  serious  trouble  until 
Brown's  raid.  January  6th,  1859,  Governor  Stew- 
art sent  a  message  to  the  Missouri  legislature, 
asking  that  steps  be  taken  for  redressing  the 
outrage.  He  also  transmitted  memorials  from 
thirty-five  citizens  of  Bates  and  Vernon  counties 
to  the  effect  that  there  is  "  a  regularly  organized 
band  of  thieves,  robbers,  and  midnight  assassins 
.  .  .  upon  the  western  border  of  our  county,"  beg- 


254  KANSAS. 

ging  him  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  accom- 
panying affidavits  of  citizens  .  .  .  who  have  been 
robbed  and  outraged  at  their  homes  by  a  band  of 
lawless  men  from  the  territory  of  Kansas,  sup- 
posed to  be  headed  by  the  notorious  Brown  and 
Montgomery;  and  also  the  terrible  situation  of 
the  family  of  the  late  and  lamented  David  Cruise, 
who  has  been  foully  murdered  in  the  bosom  of 
his  family  by  these  desperadoes."  A  bill  was  in- 
troduced into  the  state  senate  authorizing  the  em- 
ployment of  a  military  force  to  patrol  the  border, 
but  referred  to  the  committee  on  federal  relations, 
who  made  a  singularly  dispassionate  and  sensible 
report  covering  the  whole  subject  of  border  dif- 
ficulties. 

"  We  doubt  not,"  said  the  committee,  "  that  at  least 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  citizens  of  Kan- 
sas deplore  the  events  under  consideration.  .  .  .  The 
people  of  Kansas  and  Missouri  are  most  intimately  con- 
nected, not  only  by  geographical  lines,  but  by  the  tender 
cords  of  kindred.  We  are  the  same  people,  impelled 
by  the  same  interest,  and  bound  for  the  same  manifest 
destiny.  .  .  .  Even  if  this  difficulty  be  winked  at  by 
Kansas  ...  we  would  earnestly  recommend  the  trial 
of  every  honorable  means  of  reconciliation  before  a  re- 
sort to  extreme  measures.  .  .  .  We  would  act  with  great 
caution  and  consideration.  ...  If  ...  an  army  be  sta- 
tioned along  the  line  of  our  frontier  for  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  protecting  our  border  from  incursions  from  a 
neighboring  territory,  it  will  do  a  greater  injury  to  the 


JAYHAWK1NG.  255 

cause  of  liberal  principles  and  confederated  government 
than  almost  any  other  conceivable  calamity.  .  .  .  This 
bill  .  .  .  provides  that  these  troops  are  to  be  raised  alone 
from  the  counties  on  the  border ;  taken  from  the  midst 
of  a  people  already  exasperated  by  the  murder  and  rob- 
bing of  their  kindred  and  neighbors.  Companies  formed 
out  of  such  material  would  be  hard  to  restrain  from  acts 
of  summary  punishment,  should  any  of  these  despera- 
does fall  into  their  hands ;  and  it  would  likewise  be  diffi- 
cult to  teach  such  troops  the  line  of  our  jurisdiction,  and 
in  the  excitement  of  inflicting  a  merited  punishment 
on  some  offender  it  would  be  hard  for  them  to  compre- 
hend the  deplorable  evils  attending  an  armed  invasion 
of  a  sister  territory  by  the  militia  of  a  state."  "  [We] 
are  not  insensible  of  the  obligations  of  the  state  to  pro- 
tect all  her  citizens  .  .  .  [but]  we  are  most  unwilling 
that  the  state  should  run  wild  in  the  remedies  applied. 
We  have  evidence  of  the  most  satisfactory  character 
that  outrages  almost  without  a  parallel  in  America,  at 
least,  have  been  perpetrated  upon  the  persons  and  prop- 
erty of  unoffending  citizens  of  Bates  and  Vernon  coun- 
ties —  their  houses  plundered  and  then  burned  —  their 
negroes  kidnapped  in  droves  —  citizens  wounded  and 
murdered  in  cold  blood." 

The  committee  did  not  recommend  the  use  of  a 
military  force  to  disperse  the  outlaws  "  that  have 
congregated  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Kansas  for  the  last  two  years."  They 
advise  that  rewards  should  be  offered  for  the  ar- 
rest of  jayhawking  leaders,  and  that  circuit  judges 
should  hold  special  terms  in  the  disturbed  districts 


256  KANSAS. 

at  which  grievances  might  be  investigated  and  re- 
dressed —  rational  suggestions,  smoking  with  far 
less  passion  than  might  have  been  anticipated, 
which  the  legislature  wisely  adopted.  Governor 
Stewart  put  a  price  of  three  thousand  dollars  on 
Old  John  Brown's  head,  but  to  no  purpose.  He 
successfully  piloted  the  eleven  liberated  bondmen 
northward,  and  saw  Kansas  no  more. 

During  the  summer  of  1859  better  days  fairly 
began  in  the  lawless,  turbulent,  freebooting  South- 
east. It  could  not  be  expected  that  long-estab- 
lished guerrilla  habits  would  instantly  lose  their 
charm  and  power.  In  spite  of  all  repressive  in- 
fluences —  federal,  territorial,  Missourian  —  their 
decline  was  gradual.  While  it  may  be  rash  to 
speak  with  confidence  on  a  matter  where  so  much 
confusion,  blur,  and  conflict  of  testimony  still  ex- 
ists, yet  the  conclusion  seems  to  be  forced  that  in 
comparison  with  the  Missourians,  whose  sins  are 
black  enough,  jayhawkers,  were  the  superior  dev- 
ils. But  in  1859  out  of  subsiding  anarchy  there 
rose  a  crude,  rudimental  order.  At  all  events, 
the  people  so  far  believed  in  the  actual  establish- 
ment of  peace  that  they  devoted  the  4th  of  July 
to  its  celebration.  Ancient  enemies  then  took 
vows  of  amity  at  Fort  Scott,  and  promised  to 
raze  out  of  memory  all  belligerent  records  and 
begin  anew. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CLOSE  OF   THE   TERRITORIAL  PERIOD. 

IN  the  town  of  Lawrence,  on  the  eighth  day  of 
January,  1858,  there  was  an  unwonted  spectacle. 
The  territorial  legislature  had  repaired  thither 
from  Lecompton  and  the  state  legislature  from 
Topeka,  that  these  bodies,  once  divided  by  deadly 
feuds,  might  freely  and  amicably  confer  together 
on  matters  of  common  interest.  A  revival  of  the 
transfusion  project,  ineffectually  broached  during 
the  administration  of  Governor  Geary,  was  the 
business  which  called  for  these  unusual  facilities 
of  intercourse.  The  state  legislature  still  dreamed 
of  some  cross-cutting  path  into  the  Union.  It  still 
regarded  the  territorial  legislature,  though  reha- 
bilitated and  purged  of  the  old  leaven,  as  "  an 
obstacle  to  the  successful  execution  of  the  will  of 
the  people,"  —  requested  it  to  disperse,  to  vote 
itself  out  of  existence,  and  transfer  all  its  rights 
and  prerogatives  to  the  state  organization. 

The  plan  did  not  commend  itself  to  the  territo- 
rial body.  In  the  uncertainties  of  the  situation, 
as  the  issue  of  congressional  agitations  could  not 
be  forecast,  it  would  have  been  palpably  impolitic 

17 


258  KANSAS. 

to  abandon  the  only  law-making  assembly  recog- 
nized by  the  federal  authorities. 

From  this  rebuff  the  Topeka  legislature  never 
rallied.  After  lingering  in  Lawrence  for  a  time, 
with  futile  hopes  of  a  more  favorable  response  to 
its  overtures,  it  adjourned  until  the  4th  of  March. 
The  organization  served  a  most  important  pur- 
pose, but  its  mission  had  been  accomplished. 
When  it  reassembled  there  was  no  quorum.  The 
few  free-state  men,  who  clung  to  it  with  misspent 
fidelity,  printed  a  plaintive  valedictory  rehearsing 
the  fortunes  of  the  defunct  government,  lauding 
the  admirable  constancy  to  principle  illustrated  in 
themselves,  and  dispersed. 

The  territorial  legislature  was  now  in  undis- 
puted mastery  of  the  situation.  Yet,  though 
revolutionized  in  political  composition,  the  quality 
of  its  political  morality  showed  little  betterment. 
The  record  which  it  made  was  worse  than  indif- 
ferent, especially  in  the  matter  of  a  new  capital 
and  constitutional  convention.  In  Lecompton, 
founded  by  the  pro-slavery  party,  the  sensitive 
assembly  did  not  feel  at  home,  and  resolved  to  go 
elsewhere.  A  town  called  Minneola  was  projected 
in  Franklin  County.  But  the  decisive  considera- 
tions stirring  in  the  affair  were  neither  sentimen- 
tal nor  patriotic.  Thirty -five  of  the  fifty -two 
members  of  the  legislature  were  financially  inter- 
ested in  the  venture.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  was  to  be  expected  that  a  bill  transferring  the 


CLOSE  OF  THE  TERRITORIAL  PERIOD.   259 

capital  from  Lecornpton  to  Minneola  would  easily 
survive  the  governor's  veto.  When  the  removal 
began  to  be  agitated  Minneola  was  a  stretch  of 
untouched  prairie.  Not  a  building  of  any  sort 
existed  on  the  proposed  site  of  it ;  nothing  was 
there  except  "  prairie  grass,  bugle  -  brush,  and 
weeds."  In  a  few  weeks  a  big,  barn-like  structure, 
designed  for  a  capitol,  and  one  or  two  other  build- 
ings were  hastily  and  rudely  flung  together.  The 
enterprise  looked  feasible  —  at  least  as  a  financial 
investment.  But  Governor  Denver  refused  to 
leave  Lecompton,  or  to  allow  a  transfer  of  the 
records  and  public  documents.  Attorney  General 
Black  pronounced  the  whole  scheme  unconstitu- 
tional ;  and  this  adverse  decision  remanded  the 
ambitious  town -site  of  Minneola  into  common 
prairie. 

Nor  did  the  effort  for  a  new  constitution  prosper. 
The  bill  authorizing  a  convention  failed  to  pass 
the  legislature  until  the  thirty-seventh  day  of  the 
session,  which  was  limited  by  law  to  forty  days. 
Governor  Denver  concluded  there  had  been  con- 
stitution-making enough  for  the  present,  and  re- 
solved to  call  a  truce  in  that  disquieting  business. 
The  Lecompton  constitution  was  still  vexing  Con- 
gress. Irreconcilables  were  not  wanting  who  clung 
to  the  Topeka  movement,  and  Denver  decided  to 
kill  the  bill.  This  he  was  able  to  do,  as  the  organic 
law  permitted  an  absolute  veto  of  legislation  which 
reached  him  within  three  days  of  the  enforced  ad- 


260  KANSAS. 

journment.  But  legislators,  who  .originated  the 
enterprise  of  removing  the  capital  to  Minneola, 
could  not  be  thwarted  by  any  such  trifle  as  the 
pocketing  of  a  bill.  Just  before  the  close  of  the 
session,  Governor  Denver  received  what  purported 
to  be  the  bill  calling  the  constitutional  convention, 
officially  indorsed  as  having  been  passed  over  his 
veto.  He  sent  for  the  presiding  officers  of  the 
legislature,  and  exhibiting  the  spurious  document 
asked,  "Who's  responsible  for  this?"  "Lane 
suggested  it,"  was  the  reply.  "  It  is  not  the  orig- 
inal bill,"  the  governor  continued.  "  That  is  still 
in  my  hands  —  has  never  been  out  of  them.  This 
bill  is  a  forgery.  Now  I  can  make  trouble  for  you 
if  I  choose  to  do  it.  You  have  certified  to  what 
is  not  true.  The  whole  statement  is  false.  But 
I  have  no  wish  to  keep  up  the  agitation.  Two 
courses  are  open  to  you  —  either  to  give  me  a  paper 
setting  forth  the  fact  that  the  original  bill  was 
never  returned  to  the  legislature  with  my  objec- 
tions, and  hence  never  passed  over  my  veto,  or  to 
destroy  this  counterfeit  document  here  in  my  pres- 
ence." "What  shall  we  do  with  it?"  the  chief 
clerk  asked.  "  Destroy  it,"  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  promptly  replied.  The  document  was  torn 
in  pieces  and  thrust  into  the  stove. 

That  a  bill  should  survive  such  an  ordeal  was 
probably  unprecedented,  but  this  hardy  bill  did 
survive  it.  The  legislature  voted  unanimously 
that  it  had  passed  that  body  in  due  form.  March 


CLOSE   OF   THE   TERRITORIAL  PERIOD.        261 

9th  there  was  an  election  of  delegates  to  a  con- 
stitutional convention,  which  assembled  at  Min- 
neola  Tuesday,  the  23d.  But  the  jobbery  and 
other  discreditable  facts  clouding  the  whole 
movement  got  noised  abroad  and  excited  great 
indignation.  For  a  time  the  "  Minneola  swindle  " 
fairly  divided  curses  with  the  "  Lecompton  swin- 
dle." No  sooner  had  the  convention  reached 
Minneola  and  effected  a  temporary  organization, 
than  a  violent  debate  sprang  up  over  the  question 
whether  it  should  not  immediately  adjourn  to 
some  other  place.  The  discussion  raged  until  five 
o'clock  Wednesday  morning,  when  the  convention 
did  adjourn  to  Leavenworth.  There  another  con- 
stitution was  formed,  which  abandoned  the  once 
popular  "  free  white  state "  doctrine,  and  con- 
fronted the  intense  pro  -  slavery  doctrines  of 
Lecompton  with  an  anti-slavery  utterance  no  less 
unqualified. 

But  the  Leavenworth  constitution  was  too  heav- 
ily weighted  for  success.  When  submitted  to  the 
people  May  18th,  only  about  four  thousand  ballots 
were  cast,  and  one  fourth  of  them  in  the  negative. 
The  stigma  of  its  origin  destroyed  an  otherwise 
excellent  constitution. 

Governor  Denver,  who  accepted  his  post  re- 
luctantly and  with  the  intention  of  retiring  from 
it  as  soon  as  practicable,  resigned  October  10th, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Medary,  of  Ohio. 
Denver  is  the  first  among  the  territorial  governors 
whose  resignation  was  not  practically  forced. 


262  KANSAS. 

The  fourth  territorial  legislature  convened  Jan- 
uary 3d,  1859.  In  comparison  with  preceding 
legislatures  it  presents  a  tame  and  uneventful  rec- 
ord. The  most  laborious  task  which  it  attempted 
was  the  codification  of  the  statutes.  The  enact- 
ments of  1855  were  repealed  in  bulk,  and  as  that 
act  did  not  fully  express  public  sentiment  in  refer- 
ence to  them,  they  were  publicly  burnt  in  the 
streets  of  Lawrence.  The  general  laws  of  1857 
were  repealed,  and  those  of  1858  liberally  revised. 
Undeterred  by  the  experiences  of  former  assem- 
blies, the  legislature  also  made  provision  for 
another  constitutional  convention.  The  question 
of  calling  this  body  was  submitted  to  the  people, 
who  cast  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  six 
affirmative,  and  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
twenty  -  five  negative,  votes.  Delegates  were 
chosen  June  7th  —  thirty-five  Republicans  and 
seventeen  Democrats. 

At  this  election  a  Republican  party  appeared 
in  the  territory  for  the  first  time.  The  free-state 
party  was  an  isolated,  independent  organization, 
wholly  dedicated  to  a  local  mission.  It  avoided  out- 
side alliances  lest  they  should  distract  and  enfeeble 
its  energies.  Though  its  record  is  not  ideal,  though 
the  odious  black  law  sentiments  enunciated  at  Big 
Springs  and  reaffirmed  when  the  Topeka  govern- 
ment was  commissioned  were  strangely  out  of 
harmony  with  its  general  purposes,  yet  the  party 
never  faltered  in  its  hostility  to  Southern  institu- 


CLOSE   OF  THE  TERRITORIAL  PERIOD.        263 

tions.  But  the  question  of  the  domestic  institu- 
tions of  Kansas  was  now  settled.  The  organization 
had  fulfilled  its  special  mission,  and  the  necessity 
for  isolation  no  longer  existed.  A  convention  at 
Lawrence  November  llth,  1857,  discussed  and 
negatived  propositions  to  merge  the  free-state  party 
in  the  Republican  party.  May  18th,  1858,  the 
free-state  combination  went  to  pieces  upon  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Republican  party  at  Osawato- 
niie. 

The  Missouri  faction  was  known  by  a  variety 
of  names.  At  first  it  styled  itself  the  pro-slavery 
party.  As  the  chances  that  Kansas  would  not 
adopt  Southern  institutions  increased,  the  epithet 
"  pro-slavery "  became  unpopular,  and  was  ex- 
changed for  "law  and  order."  But  the  revised 
title  had  only  a  brief  currency,  and  the  party 
finally  rested  its  pursuit  of  a  name  in  the  phrase 
—  "  The  National  Democracy  of  Kansas." 

These  changes  in  the  constitution  and  nomen- 
clature of  political  organizations  betokened  a  sub- 
sidence of  party  animosities.  So  strong  was  the 
disposition  to  bury  the  past  that  it  ultimately 
took  the  shape  of  a  general  amnesty  act,  which  dis- 
missed all  prosecutions  growing  out  of  "  political 
differences  of  opinion,"  and,  as  a  consequence,  a 
good  many  people  breathed  freer. 

The  constitutional  convention  met  at  Wyan- 
dotte  July  5th  with  a  membership  largely  com- 
posed of  new  men.  Few  of  the  leaders  who  fig- 


264  KANSAS. 

ured  at  Topeka,  or  Lecompton,  or  Leavenworth 
were  at  Wyandotte.  The  convention  fell  to  work 
with  as  much  freshness  and  zeal  as  if  no  similar 
body  had  ever  broken  ground  in  Kansas,  and  after 
a  session  of  three  or  four  weeks  produced  a  fairly 
good  instrument.  In  the  matter  of  the  elective 
franchise  it  retreated  from  the  radicalism  of  Leav- 
enworth, which  conferred  the  right  of  suffrage 
upon  "  every  male  citizen  of  the  United  States," 
and  adopted  the  language  of  Topeka,  "  every 
white  male  person."  October  4th,  1859,  the  peo- 
ple ratified  the  constitution  by  a  majority  of  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-one,  in  a  total 
vote  of  fifteen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty- 
one.  On  the  6th  of  December  Charles  Robinson 
was  elected  governor,  J.  P.  Root  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, and  M.  F.  Conway  representative  to  Con- 
gress. 

The  debate  in  Congress  on  the  Wyandotte  con- 
stitution lacked  the  bitterness  and  violence  of  ear- 
lier discussions  when  Kansas  was  the  topic.  Sen- 
ator Wigfall  revived  a  dialect  popular  in  the 
Lecompton  days.  "  I  will  not  consent,"  he  said, 
"that  Texas  shall  associate  herself  with  such  a 
state  as  this  [Kansas]  would  be.  .  .  .  The  in- 
habitants of  that  so-called  state  are  outlaws  and 
land-pirates.  The  good  men  were  abandoned  by 
the  government  and  were  driven  out.  Ruffianism 
is  all  that  is  left,  and  are  we  to  associate  with 
it  ?  "  But  outbursts  of  this  sort  were  infrequent. 


CLOSE   OF  THE   TERRITORIAL  PERIOD.        265 

The  opposition,  led  by  Green,  of  Missouri,  despair- 
ing of  ultimate  success,  now  expended  its  strength 
in  retarding  and  deferring  the  entrance  of  the  ob- 
noxious territory  into  the  Union.  There  was 
much  criticism  of  the  proposed  boundaries,  as  the 
Missouri  senator  insisted  that  not  more  than  two 
sevenths  of  the  area  included  within  them  could 
be  cultivated,  though  the  western  line  had  been 
moved  eastward  to  the  twenty-fifth  meridian.  He 
urged  that  thirty  thousand  square  miles  should  be 
taken  from  Southern  Nebraska  and  annexed  to 
the  projected  state.  "  Without  this  addition  .  .  . 
Kansas,"  he  said,  "  must  be  weak,  puerile,  sickly, 
in  debt,  and  at  no  time  capable  of  sustaining  her- 
self ! " 

After  more  than  four  years  of  fruitless  endeavor 
Kansas  entered  the  Union.  January  21st,  1861, 
senators  of  Florida,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  an- 
nounced the  secession  of  these  states  and  their 
own  retirement  from  Congress.  The  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  president  furnished  a  con- 
venient pretext  for  revolt.  "  It  has  been  a  belief," 
said  Jefferson  Davis,  "  that  we  are  to  be  deprived 
in  the  Union  of  the  rights  .  .  .  our  fathers  be- 
queathed to  us,  which  has  brought  Mississippi  into 
her  pi-esent  decision.  .  .  .  When  you  deny  them, 
and  when  you  deny  to  us  the  right  to  withdraw 
from  a  government  which,  thus  perverted,  threat- 
ens to  be  the  destruction  of  our  rights,  we  but 
tread  the  path  of  our  fathers  when  we  proclaim 
our  independence  and  take  the  hazard." 


266  KANSAS. 

The  defiant  Southern  valediction  was  barely  fin- 
ished when  Senator  Seward  called  up  the  bill  for 
the  admission  of  Kansas.  With  their  depleted 
ranks  the  opposition  could  now  offer  only  a  feeble 
resistance,  and  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  thirty-six  to 
sixteen.  The  House  had  already  taken  favorable 
action,  and  on  the  28th  of  January  concurred  in 
Senate  amendments.  It  was  with  memorable  dra- 
matic fitness  that  Kansas,  the  arena  where  the  hos- 
tile civilizations  met,  should  enter  the  Union  just 
as  the  defeated  South  drew  off  from  it. 

The  news  reached  Lawrence  late  at  night. 
Territorial  officials,  members  of  the  legislature, 
which  was  in  session  there,  and  people  in  gen- 
eral were  roused,  and  there  followed  an  impromptu 
jollification,  to  which  buckets  of  whiskey,  freely 
circulated,  lent  inspiration.  The  next  day  saw  a 
more  formal  and  decorous  celebration.  One  hun- 
dred guns  were  fired,  making  noisy  proclamation 
across  the  prairies  that  Kansas  had  at  last  become 
a  state. 

The  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Kansas,  the 
loss  of  which  to  the  South  made  secession  a  cer- 
tainty, was  essentially  political  and  constitutional 
—  not  military.  The  few  skirmishes  that  took 
place  have  a  secondary  if  not  tertiary  importance. 
In  the  field  of  diplomacy  and  finesse  the  pro-slav- 
ery leaders  were  outgeneraled.  Reckoning  too 
confidently  and  disdainfully  on  numbers,  on  near- 
ness to  the  theatre  of  operations  and  federal  sup- 


CLOSE   OF  THE   TERRITORIAL  PERIOD.        267 

port,  they  also  blundered  in  underrating  their  op- 
ponents, and  in  adopting  consequently  a  policy 
of  noise  and  bluff.  They  came  thundering  into 
the  territory  on  the  30th  of  March,  1855,  when 
quieter  measures  would  have  served  their  pur- 
poses far  better.  The  dash  upon  the  Wakarusa 
turned  out  to  be  a  fool's  errand.  In  the  sack  of 
Lawrence  and  the  dispersion  of  the  Topeka  legis- 
lature, victories  were  won  which  returned  to 
plague  the  victors.  The  career  of  the  free-state 
party,  under  the  lead  of  Governor  Robinson,  who 
projected  and  inspired  the  whole  tactical  plan  of 
its  operations,  has  no  parallel  in  American  his- 
tory. Composed  of  heterogeneous,  clashing,  fever- 
ish elements ;  repudiating  the  territorial  legisla- 
ture and  subsisting  without  legislation — an  inter- 
mediate condition  of  virtual  outlawry  —  from  the 
settlement  of  Lawrence  until  1858,  the  party  was 
not  only  successfully  held  together  during  this 
chaotic  period,  but  by  a  series  of  extraordinary  ex- 
pedients, by  adroitly  turning  pro-slavery  mistakes 
to  account,  and  by  rousing  Northern  sympathy 
through  successful  advertisement  of  its  calamities, 
rescued  Kansas  from  the  clutch  of  Missouri,  and 
then  disbanded. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

DURING  THE   WAR   FOB   THE   UNION. 

THE  border  storm  blew  down  the  loosely-rooted 
prosperities  of  the  territory  with  sufficient  havoc. 
For  the  most  part  the  early  immigrants  were 
poor.  A  laudable  ambition  to  mend  their  worldly 
fortunes  blended  with  ethical  and  political  con- 
victions in  their  westward  venture.  Though  the 
cause  of  liberty  prospered,  and  slavery  was  driven 
from  the  debatable  ground,  yet,  at  the  close  of  the 
struggle,  the  rudenesses,  discomforts,  and  limita- 
tions of  the  frontier  remained  with  faintly  miti- 
gated severity.  Strength  and  enterprise  that 
might  have  built  comfortable  homes,  improved 
farms,  and  established  public  institutions,  had 
been  diverted  to  politics.  The  domestic  expe- 
riences of  the  Kansas  pioneers  during  the  terri- 
torial days,  subordinated  in  this  volume  to  their 
political  concerns,  are  full  of  interest.  Under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances,  frontier  life  has 
plenty  of  disagreeable,  slowly  bettering  elements. 
"  Sleeping  on  the  ground,"  wrote  a  pioneer  in 
1856,  "  is  not  confined  to  camping  out,  but  is 
extensively  practiced  in  all  our  cabins.  Floors 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR   THE    UNION.         269 

are  a  luxury  rarely  seen  here  [in  Wabaunsee] . 
In  our  own  dwelling,  part  of  the  inmates  rest  on 
the  earth,  while  others  sleep  on  sacking  stretched 
between  the  timbers  over  our  heads,  access  to 
which  is  only  to  be  had  by  climbing  up  on  the 
logs  constituting  the  sides  of  the  cabin.  I  no- 
ticed yesterday  a  member  of  our  family  making 
up  his  bed  with  a  hoe  !  "  Everything  was  on  a 
primitive  basis.  Land  had  been  preempted  in 
larger  or  smaller  amounts  and  a  rudimentary  agri- 
culture attempted.  Horses,  cattle,  pigs,  fowls  — 
an  easy,  inviting  prey  for  raiders  of  every  sort 
—  gradually  increased.  Food  was  always  plain, 
sometimes  scanty,  and  occasionally  unique.  "  We 
have  a  pie  on  the  table,  the  first  of  any  kind  I 
have  seen  since  our  arrival,  made  of  sorrel  and 
sweetened  with  molasses."  Unconventional  fron- 
tier habits  of  dress  were  in  vogue.  Among  the 
nearly  five  hundred  persons  who  presented  claims 
for  damages  before  the  auditing  commission  of 
1859,  very  few  included  items  of  clothing.  One 
unpractical  mortal  brought  to  the  territory  a 
large  assortment  of  dress  coats,  white  velvet  and 
satin  vests,  trousers,  calfVskin  boots,  and  gloves. 
The  wardrobe  disappeared  when  the  Missourians 
sacked  Lawrence  in  1856,  and  some  of  the  finery 
which  attracted  Mr.  Gladstone's  attention  on 
their  return  to  Kansas  City  doubtless  came  from 
it.  "  I  frequently  spoke  to  Southmayd,"  said  a 
witness  before  the  claims  commission,  "  about 


270  KANSAS. 

having  so  much  good  clothing  in  this  country !  " 
Socially  there  was  an  utter  democracy  —  no  high- 
est, no  lowest.  Everybody  stood  on  the  same 
plane.  For  amusements  the  settlers  were  left  en- 
tirely to  their  own  resources.  Lecturers,  concert 
troupes,  and  shows  never  ventured  so  far  into  the 
wilderness.  Yet  there  was  much  broad,  rollick- 
ing, noisy  merry-making,  but  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  rum  and  whiskey  —  lighter  liquors 
like  wine  and  beer  could  not  be  obtained — had  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  it.  In  the  larger  towns 
"  sprees  "  were  by  no  means  uncommon.  Room 
No.  7  in  the  Eldridge  House  obtained  a  reputa- 
tion throughout  the  territory  as  a  favorite  place 
for  carousals,  where  the  uproar  frequently  con- 
tinued all  night,  as  one  party  of  roisterers  suc- 
ceeded another.  Outside  of  the  villages  inconven- 
iences and  hardships  were  specially  oppressive. 
A  woman  died  in  a  country  neighborhood.  "  The 
difficulty  after  her  death  was  to  provide  a  coffin. 
There  were  men  who  could  make  it,  but  no  boards 
could  be  found.  At  last  one  person  offered  to  use 
a  part  of  the  bottom  of  his  wagon,  another  fur- 
nished the  rest,  and  a  box  was  put  together."  A 
constant  back-flowing  stream  of  disgusted  settlers 
set  eastward  during  the  whole  territorial  period. 
Some  of  them  gave  a  doleful  account  of  the  coun- 
try —  reported  Kansas  not  likely  to  "  become  a 
free  or  a  slave  state  until  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
is  over-peopled,  for  nobody  that  has  strength  to 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR   THE    UNION.         271 

walk,  or  money  to  pay  for  conveyance,  will  stay 
there  long.  The  earth  ...  is  actually  parched 
and  burnt  to  the  solidity  of  brick  by  the  long 
droughts  so  that  it  cannot  be  plowed,  and  no  vege- 
tation appears."  Schools,  churches,  and  the  vari- 
ous appliances  of  older  civilization  got  under  way 
and  made  some  growth,  but  they  were  still  in  a 
primitive,  inchoate  condition  when  Kansas  took 
her  place  in  the  Union. 

The  mischiefs  which  accompanied  the  strife  of 
hostile  civilizations  within  the  territory  were  pro- 
longed and  aggravated  by  a  new  woe.  In  1860 
a  great  drought  began.  For  more  than  a  year 
little  or  no  rain  fell,  and  crops  failed  everywhere. 
Probably  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  people  were 
thrown  upon  public  charity.  Again  Kansas  put 
out  signals  of  distress,  to  which  the  public  made 
a  quick  and  generous  response.  Provisions,  cloth- 
ing, and  money  poured  into  the  famished  common- 
wealth —  a  magnificent  largess  that  measurably 
relieved  its  calamities,  though  it  did  not  prevent 
serious  depopulation. 

Governor  Robinson  took  the  oath  of  office  Feb- 
ruary 9th,  1861.  He  found  himself  at  a  post 
beset  by  an  extraordinary  complication  of  difficul- 
ties. April  15th  President  Lincoln  called  for 
seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  to  put  down  the 
Southern  rebellion.  Kansas  was  in  a  condition 
the  most  inopportune  and  unpromising  for  a  fit- 
ting response.  With  the  subsidence  of  domestic 


272  KANSAS. 

troubles  military  organizations  generally  went  to 
pieces.  The  exchequer  of  a  community  whose  six 
years  of  territorial  broil  concluded  with  a  fam- 
ine could  hardly  be  on  a  war  footing.  Yet  Gov- 
ernor Robinson,  in  his  message  to  the  legislature, 
which  met  March  26th,  said :  "  Kansas,  though 
last  and  least  of  the  states  in  the  Union,  will  ever 
be  ready  to  answer  the  call  of  her  country."  That 
promise  was  nobly  kept.  Governor  Carney,  the 
successor  of  Governor  Robinson,  writing  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  May  13th,  1864,  could  say  :  "  Kansas 
has  furnished  more  men  according  to  her  popula- 
tion to  crush  this  rebellion  than  any  other  state 
in  the  Union."  In  all  the  great  western  cam- 
paigns Kansas  soldiers  made  an  honorable  record. 
That  record  belongs  to  national  rather  than  state 
history,  and  no  effort  will  be  made  here  to  disen- 
tangle and  isolate  it  for  purposes  of  valuation. 

Governor  Robinson  was  probably  the  first  state 
executive  to  foreshadow  the  policy  which  the  fed- 
eral authorities  ultimately  adopted  in  reference  to 
slavery  "  A  demand  is  made  by  certain  states," 
he  said  in  his  message,  "  that  new  concessions  and 
guaranties  be  given  to  slavery,  or  the  Union  must 
be  destroyed.  .  .  .  If  it  is  true  that  the  continued 
existence  of  slavery  requires  the  destruction  of 
the  Union,  it  is  time  to  ask  if  the  existence  of  the 
Union  does  not  require  the  destruction  of  slavery. 
If  such  an  issue  be  forced  on  the  nation  it  must 
be  met,  and  met  promptly." 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         273 

The  inevitable  and  legitimate  difficulties  which 
confronted  Governor  Robinson  —  embarrassments 
of  poverty  and  of  chaos  —  might  well  have  stag- 
gered any  man  of  ordinary  nerve,  but  they  were 
not  the  most  formidable  evils.  After  an  exciting 
contest  the  legislature  elected  J.  H.  Lane  and  S. 
C.  Pomeroy  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Lane 
celebrated  his  departure  for  Washington  by  laying 
aside  the  calf-skin  vest  and  seal-skin  coat,  which 
had  done  service  during  the  whole  territorial  era, 
and  donning  a  respectable  suit.  On  the  realiza- 
tion of  his  long-cherished  dream  a  crazy  passion 
for  power  seized  him  —  an  ambition  to  absorb  the 
entire  civil  and  military  functions  of  the  state. 
Robinson  stood  squarely,  if  not  defiantly,  across 
his  path.  In  the  territorial  struggle  the  natural 
antagonisms  of  these  two  men  —  antagonisms  of 
temperament,  method,  and  purpose  —  were  cir- 
cumscribed and  held  in  abeyance  by  the  compul- 
sions of  the  situation  — 

"  As  the  wave  breaks  to  foam  on  shelves, 
Then  runs  into  a  wave  again." 

But  now  disguises  and  restrictions  were  flung  off. 
Lane,  inflamed  by  old  grudges  and  new  provoca- 
tions, by  long-nursed  hatreds  and  obstructions  that 
crossed  his  plans,  broke  out  into  violent  hostilities 
against  Governor  Robinson  and  his  successor.  By 
his  overshadowing  prestige  at  Washington  he  was 
able  to  wrest  from  them  no  small  part  of  their 
legitimate  gubernatorial  functions.  Lane's  singu- 
18 


274  KANSAS. 

lar  influence  over  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  secretary  of 
war,  Mr.  Stanton,  is  one  of  the  most  inexplicable 
and  disastrous  facts  that  concern  Kansas  in  1861— 
65.  It  was  the  source  of  the  heaviest  calamities 
that  visited  the  commonwealth  during  that  period, 
because  it  put  him  in  a  position  to  gratify  mis- 
chievous ambitions,  to  pursue  personal  feuds,  to 
assume  duties  and  offices  that  belonged  to  others, 
to  popularize  the  corruptest  political  methods, 
and  to  organize  semi-predatory  military  expedi- 
tions. His  conduct  not  only  embarrassed  the 
state  executive  and  threw  state  affairs  into  con- 
fusion, but  provoked  sanguinary  reprisals  from 
Missouri.  In  1864  Mr.  Lincoln,  remarking  upon 
Lane's  extraordinary  career  in  Washington  to 
Governor  Carney,  offered  no  better  explanation 
of  it  than  this :  "  He  knocks  at  my  door  every 
morning.  You  know  he  is  a  very  persistent  fel- 
low and  hard  to  put  off.  I  don't  see  you  very 
often,  and  have  to  pay  attention  to  him." 

Lane's  intrigues  in  Washington  against  the  state 
administration  prospered.  Though  recruiting  was 
energetically  pushed  by  the  local  authorities  and 
three  regiments  were  already  in  the  field — the 
first  and  second  obtaining  honorable  recognition 
for  gallant  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek, 
Missouri  —  yet  in  August  Lane,  technically  a 
civilian,  appeared  in  Kansas  clothed  with  vague, 
but  usurping  military  powers.  He  reached  Leav- 
enworth  on  the  15th,  and  announced  in  a  public 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR  THE    UNION.         275 

address  the  extinction  of  all  his  personal  and  polit- 
ical enmities  —  a  costly  sacrifice  laid  on  the  altar 
of  his  country.  Two  days  afterwards  he  set  out 
for  Fort  Scott,  where  the  Kansas  brigade,  compris- 
ing the  Third  and  Fourth  infantry  together  with 
the  Fifth  and  Sixth  cavalry  regiments,  was  concen- 
trating to  repel  attacks  upon  the  Southeast.  He 
began  his  brief  military  career  in  this  region  by 
constructing  several  useless  fortifications,  among 
which  the  most  considerable  affair  was  Fort  Lin- 
coln, on  the  Little  Osage  River,  twelve  miles  north 
of  Fort  Scott.  September  2d  there  was  a  skir- 
mish at  Dry  Wood  Creek,  Missouri,  between  a 
reconnoitring  party  and  a  force  under  the  Con- 
federate General  Rains,  which  was  not  wholly 
favorable  to  the  Kansans,  and  caused  a  panic  at 
Fort  Scott.  Leaving  a  body  of  cavalry  with 
orders  to  defend  the  town  as  long  as  possible,  and 
then  fire  it,  Lane  retired  to  his  earth-works  on 
the  Little  Osage.  "  I  am  compelled  to  make  a 
stand  here,"  he  reported  September  2d,  after  get- 
ting inside  Fort  Lincoln,  "or  give  up  Kansas  to 
disgrace  and  destruction.  If  you  do  not  hear  from 
me  again,  you  can  understand  that  I  am  sur- 
rounded by  a  superior  force."  The  Confederates 
did  not  follow  up  their  advantage,  but  retreated 
leisurely  toward  Independence,  Missouri.  En- 
couraged by  their  withdrawal,  Lane  took  the  field 
on  the  10th  "  with  a  smart  little  army  of  about 
fifteen  hundred  men  "  —  reached  Westport,  Mis- 


276  KANSAS. 

souri,  four  days  later,  where  he  reported  —  "  Yes- 
terday I  cleaned  out  Butler  and  Parkville  with 
my  cavalry."  September  22d  he  sacked  and 
burned  Osceola,  Missouri  —  an  enterprise  in  which 
large  amounts  of  property  and  a  score  of  inhab- 
itants were  sacrificed.  He  broke  camp  on  the 
27th,  and  in  two  days  reached  Kansas  City.  The 
brigade  converted  the  Missouri  border  through 
which  the  march  lay  into  a  wilderness,  and  reached 
its  destination  heavily  encumbered  with  plunder. 
"  Everything  disloyal,"  said  Lane,  " .  .  .  .  must 
be  cleaned  out,"  and  never  were  orders  more  lit- 
erally or  cheerfully  obeyed.  Even  the  chaplain 
succumbed  to  the  rampant  spirit  of  thievery,  and 
plundered  Confederate  altars  in  the  interest  of 
his  unfinished  church  at  home.  Among  the  spoils 
that  fell  to  Lane  personally  there  was  a  fine  car- 
riage, which  he  brought  to  Lawrence  for  the  use 
of  his  household. 

From  the  first  the  local  authorities,  civil  and  mil- 
itary, had  regarded  the  brigade  with  apprehension. 
"  We  are  in  no  danger  of  invasion,"  Governor 
Robinson  wrote  General  Fremont,  commander  of 
the  Western  Department,  September  1st,  "pro- 
vided the  government  stores  at  Fort  Scott  are  sent 
back  to  Leavenworth,  and  the  Lane  brigade  is 
removed  from  the  border.  It  is  true  small  par- 
ties of  secessionists  are  to  be  found  in  Missouri, 
but  we  have  good  reason  to^know  that  they  do 
not  intend  to  molest  Kansas  .  .  until  Jackson 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         277 

shall  be  reinstated  as  governor  of  Missouri.  In- 
deed, a  short  time  since,  when  a  guerrilla  party 
came  over  and  stole  some  property  from  our  cit- 
izens, the  officers  in  command  of  the  Confederates 
compelled  a  return  of  the  property,  and  offered  to 
give  up  the  leader  of  the  gang  to  our  people  for 
punishment.  But  what  we  have  to  fear,  and  do 
fear,  is,  that  Lane's  brigade  will  get  up  a  war  by 
going  over  the  line,  committing  depredations,  and 
then  returning  into  our  state.  This  course  will 
force  the  secessionists  to  [retaliation]  .  .  .  and 
in  this  they  will  be  joined  by  nearly  all  the  Union 
men  of  Missouri.  If  you  will  remove  the  supplies 
at  Fort  Scott  to  the  interior,  and  relieve  us  of  the 
Lane  brigade,  I  will  guaranty  Kansas  from  inva- 
sion .  .  .  until  Jackson  shall  drive  you  out  of  St. 
Louis." 

Captain  Prince,  in  command  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth,  wrote  Lane  September  9th :  "I  hope  you 
will  adopt  active  and  early  measures  to  crush  out 
this  marauding  which  is  being  enacted  in  Captain 
Jennison's  name,  as  also  [in]  yours,  by  a  band  of 
men  representing  themselves  as  belonging  to  your 
command."  When  General  Hunter  took  charge 
of  the  department  in  November  the  brigade,  ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  Assistant  Adjutant-Gen- 
eral C.  G.  Halpine,  was  "  a  ragged,  half-armed, 
diseased,  mutinous  rabble,  taking  votes  whether 
any  troublesome  or  distasteful  order  should  be 
obeyed  or  defied.  ...  To  remedy  these  things 


278  KANSAS. 

mustering  officers  were  sent  to  remaster  the  reg- 
iments of  Lane's  brigade.  .  .  .  Had  the  depart- 
ment, as  previously,  been  without  troops  from 
other  states,  there  is  every  probability  that  a  gen- 
eral mutiny  .  .  .  would  have  taken  place  instead 
of  the  partial  mutinies  which  have  been  sup- 
pressed." The  thieving,  foot-pad,  devastating  ex- 
pedition of  Lane's  biigade  did  much  to  incite  ani- 
mosities and  reprisals,  whose  ghastly  work  sent  a 
thrill  of  horror  through  the  country. 

Lane  made  a  furious  harangue  at  Leavenworth 
October  8th  in  defense  of  his  campaign.  He  wrote 
President  Lincoln  the  next  day :  "  I  .  .  .  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  and  marching  against  the  enemy 
as  gallant  and  effective  an  army,  in  proportion  to 
its  numbers,  as  ever  entered  the  field.  Its  opera- 
tions are  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  country.  .  .  . 
Governor  Charles  Robinson  .  .  .  has  constantly, 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  vilified  myself  and 
abused  the  men  under  my  command  as  marauders 
and  thieves."  He  suggested  the  formation  of  a 
new  military  department  out  of  Kansas,  the  In- 
dian Territory,  and  portions  of  Arkansas,  with 
himself  as  commander,  and  not  less  than  ten 
thousand  troops  at  his  disposal.  He  would  resign 
his  seat  in  Congress  and  accept  the  military  ap- 
pointment. In  case  the  department  should  not  be 
created,  he  saw  only  calamities  ahead.  "  I  will 
...  be  compelled  to  leave  my  command,"  he 
continued,  "  quit  the  field,  and  most  reluctantly 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         279 

become  an  idle  spectator  of  the  great  struggle, 
and  witness,  I  have  no  doubt,  the  devastation  of 
my  adopted  state  and  the  destruction  of  its  peo- 
ple." 

In  November  Lane  returned  to  Washington  and 
at  once  entered  upon  fresh  military  schemes.  He 
projected  an  expedition,  which  he  would  lead  in 
person  from  Fort  Leavenworth  into  Arkansas  and 
the  Indian  Territory  —  representing  the  move- 
ment as  the  result  of  conferences  between  himself 
and  General  Hunter.  With  this  understanding, 
he  obtained  for  it  the  approbation  of  President 
Lincoln  and  the  War  Department.  Friends  in 
Kansas  sent  on  to  Washington  resolutions  ap- 
plauding his  military  genius,  and  urging  that  the 
most  ought  to  be  made  of  it.  Lane,  said  the 
"Leavenworth  Conservative"  "has  every  quality 
of  mind  and  character  which  belonged  to  the  histor- 
ical commanders.  .  .  .  There  are  no  obstacles  in 
his  path,  and  to  him  a  difficulty  is  simply  a  thing 
to  be  overcome."  Refugee  Indians  at  Fort  Leav- 
enworth, driven  from  the  territory  by  disloyal 
tribes,  concurred  in  these  sentiments.  "  General 
Lane  is  our  friend,"  said  two  chiefs  with  sesquipe- 
dalian names  in  a  communication  to  "  Our  Great 
Father  the  President  of  the  United  States."  "  His 
heart  is  big  for  the  Indian.  He  will  do  more  for 
us  than  any  one  else.  The  hearts  of  our  people 
will  be  sad  if  he  does  not  come.  They  will  follow 
him  wherever  he  directs.  They  will  sweep  the 


280  KANSAS. 

rebels  before  them  like  a  terrible  fire  on  the  dry 
prairie."  Lane  unfolded  his  plans,  shaped  evi- 
dently by  the  recent  experiences  of  his  brigade, 
to  General  McClellan.  He  proposed  to  extir- 
pate disloyalty  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  If 
conciliatory  methods  should  not  be  successful,  he 
would  employ  the  most  violent.  "  Sir,  if  I  can't 
do  better  I  will  kill  the  white  rebels,  and  give 
their  lands  to  the  loyal  blacks ! " 

General  Hunter  received  communications  from 
the  War  Department  in  January,  1862,  announcing 
that  a  Southern  expedition,  consisting  of  eight  or 
ten  thousand  Kansas  troops  and  four  thousand 
Indians  had  been  decided  upon,  and  implying  the 
existence  of  a  definite,  mutual  understanding  that 
Lane  should  have  the  chief  command.  These 
communications  took  Hunter  by  surprise,  and  in 
his  perplexity  he  wrote  General  Halleck,  who  had 
succeeded  General  Fremont  in  command  of  the 
Western  Department,  for  information  :  — 

"  It  seems  .  .  .  that  Senator  J.  H.  Lane  has  been 
trading  at  Washington  on  a  capital  partly  made  up  of  his 
own  senatorial  position,  and  partly  of  such  scraps  of  in- 
fluence as  I  may  have  possessed  in  the  confidence  or  es- 
teem of  the  president,  said  scraps  having  been  'jay- 
hawked  '  by  the  Kansas  senator  without  due  consent  of 
the  proper  owner.  ...  I  find  that  '  Lane's  great  South- 
ern expedition '  was  entertained  by  the  president  under 
misrepresentations  ;  .  .  .  that  said  '  expedition  '  was  the 
joint  design  of  Senator  Laue  and  myself.  .  .  .  Never  to 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         281 

this  hour  has  he  consulted  me  on  the  subject,  directly  or 
indirectly,  while  the  authorities  at  Washington  have  pre- 
served a  similar  indiscreet  reticence.  .  .  .  Thus  I  am 
left  in  ignorance,  but  ...  I  think  it  more  than  prob- 
able that  the  veil  of  mystery  has  been  lifted  in  your 
particular  case." 

Sorne  weeks  before  receiving  Hunter's  letter, 
which  was  written  February  8th,  1862,  rumors 
reached  Halleck  that  Lane  would  be  commissioned 
brigadier-general,  and  he  immediately  forwarded 
a  remonstrance  to  headquarters.  "  I  cannot  con- 
ceive a  more  injudicious  appointment,"  he  wrote 
General  McClellan.  "  It  will  take  twenty  thou- 
sand men  to  counteract  its  effect  in  this  state, 
and,  moreover,  is  offering  a  premium  for  rascality 
and  robbery."  President  Lincoln  indorsed  upon 
Halleck's  communication,  which  was  of  consider- 
able length,  and  touched  various  topics  —  "  an 
excellent  letter  ;  though  I  am  sorry  General  Hal- 
leck is  so  'unfavorably  impressed  with  General 
Lane."  Concerning  the  "  expedition  "  Halleck 
had  no  information  aside  from  current  rumors. 
Yet  this  unofficial  hearsay  sufficed  to  rouse  his 
indignation.  "  I  protested  "...  he  wrote  Hun- 
ter February  13th,  "  against  any  of  his  [Lane's] 
jayhawkers  coming  into  this  department,  and  said 
positively  that  I  would  arrest  and  disarm  every 
one  I  could  catch." 

Lane  reached  Leavenworth  January  26th  in 
high  spirits.  But  on  the  next  day  he  met  a  sud- 


282  KANSAS. 

den  and  stinging  rebuff.  Without  waiting  for  in- 
terview or  explanation,  without  intimating  to  Lane 
what  was  impending,  Hunter  issued  an  order  an- 
nouncing his  purpose  to  command  the  "  expedi- 
tion "  in  person.  The  unexpected  turn  of  affairs 
nonplused  Lane.  He  sent  a  telegram  to  Rep- 
resentative John  Covode :  "  See  the  president, 
secretary  of  war,  and  General  McClellan,  and 
answer  what  I  shall  do."  There  was  nothing  to 
do  except  to  retire  or  take  a  subordinate  position. 
He  succeeded,  however,  in  breaking  up  the  expe- 
dition. "I  have  been  with  the  man  you  name," 
Covode  telegraphed.  "  Hunter  will  not  get  the 
men  or  money  he  requires.  His  command  cannot 
go  forward.  Hold  on.  Don't  resign  your  seat." 
Lane  followed  Covode's  advice  and  returned  to 
Washington  after  addressing  a  public  letter  to  the 
legislature,  which  had  passed  complimentary  res- 
olutions :  "  I  have  been  thwarted  in  the  cher- 
ished hope  of  my  life.  The  sad  yet  simple  duty 
only  remains  to  announce  to  you  and  through  you 
my  purpose  to  return  to  my  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate." 

Lane's  military  intrigues  reached  their  final 
stage  in  his  appointment  July  22d,  1862,  as  "  Com- 
missioner for  Recruiting  in  the  Department  of 
Kansas."  He  proceeded  to  organize  regiments, 
completely  ignoring  the  state  authorities  in  whose 
hands  the  laws  and  the  constitution  placed  the 
whole  business.  At  this  time  he  began  to  enlist 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         283 

colored  men  —  probably  the  pioneer  movement  in 
that  direction  —  protesting  that  "a  nigger  can 
stop  a  bullet  as  well  as  a  white  man."  But  Lane's 
scheme  did  not  altogether  succeed.  Governor 
Robinson,  who  proposed  to  stand  upon  his  con- 
stitutional rights,  declined  to  commission  the  offi- 
cers whom  Lane  had  appointed.  The  secretary 
of  war  telegraphed  that  if  the  state  executive  did 
not  issue  the  commissions  the  War  Department 
would.  "  You  have  the  power  to  override  the 
constitution  and  the  laws,"  was  the  unconcilia- 
tory  response ;  "  but  you  have  not  the  power  to 
make  the  present  governor  of  Kansas  dishonor  his 
own  state." 

Another  feature  in  the  singular  tangle  was  a 
formidable  effort  to  crush  Governor  Robinson, 
whom  the  Lane  politicians  found  intractable  and 
difficult  to  manage.  In  the  autumn  of  1861  these 
gentry  made  an  abortive  effort  to  displace  him 
on  the  ground  that,  by  the  provisions  of  the  con- 
stitution, the  term  of  state  officers  expired  Jan- 
uary 1st,  1862.  There  was  an  election,  but  the 
courts  pronounced  it  illegal. 

The  failure  of  this  first  personal  assault  lent  ad- 
ditional violence  and  venom  to  the  second.  Jan- 
uary 20th  a  resolution  of  inquiry  concerning  the 
sale  of  certain  state  bonds  was  offered  in  the  leg- 
islature. The  bonds  in  question  had  no  quotable 
market  value,  and  a  sale  was  effected  only  through 
negotiations  —  evidently  not  ruled  by  the  severest 


284  KANSAS. 

business  maxims  —  with  the  Interior  Department, 
which  held,  in  trust,  Indian  funds  for  investment. 
It  appeared  that  bonds  to  the  amount  of  ninety- 
five  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  were  delivered, 
upon  which  the  sum  of  fifty-five  thousand  dollars 
was  paid ;  that  while  the  sale  was  effected  at 
eighty-five  per  cent.,  only  sixty  per  cent,  reached 
the  state  treasury,  notwithstanding  the  law  de- 
clared that  nothing  less  than  seventy  per  cent, 
should  be  accepted.  Here  was  a  palpable  viola- 
tion of  the  law,  and  the  official  upon  whom  it 
could  be  fastened,  especially  if  he  happened  to  be 
the  governor,  would  fare  badly.  It  is  now  well 
understood  that  the  whole  movement,  which  pro- 
ceeded from  Lane,  was  aimed  at  Robinson.  The 
prosecution  had  no  wish  to  harm  the  auditor  and 
secretary  of  state  who  went  down  in  the  fight. 

Though  the  committee  of  investigation  ap- 
pointed by  the  House  of  Representatives  discov- 
ered no  evidence  connecting  the  governor  with 
the  negotiation,  they  resolved  to  include  him 
among  the  inculpated  officials.  They  ventured 
their  case  on  chances  that  the  progress  of  the  trial 
might  bring  out  criminating  facts. 

An  intensity  of  excitement,  unsurpassed  even 
in  the  stormiest  territorial  days,  convulsed  the 
legislature  when,  on  the  13th  of  February,  the 
committee  of  investigation  reported  resolutions 
impeaching  the  auditor,  the  secretary  of  state, 
and  the  governor.  On  the  next  day  a  vote  was 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR   THE    UNION.         285 

reached,  the  resolutions  passed  unanimously,  and 
there  followed  cheers  long  and  loud.  Why  these 
law-makers  applauded  it  would  be  difficult  to  say. 
They  had  not  read  the  voluminous  report  upon 
which  the  resolutions  were  alleged  to  be  based. 
If  it  were  true  that  the  executive  had  brought  dis- 
grace upon  the  state  and  ought  to  be  driven  from 
office,  that  would  be  poor  cause  for  any  outbreak  of 
jubilation.  When  at  a  later  stage  specific  articles 
of  impeachment  against  the  governor  came  before 
the  House  the  unanimity  gave  way,  and  seven 
representatives  are  on  record  as  voting  against 
them.  So  far  as  Robinson  was  concerned  the 
prosecution  broke  down,  and  he  was  almost  unan- 
imously acquitted,  though  a  majority  of  the  Sen- 
ate belonged  to  the  Lane  faction. 

That  a  rank  growth  of  general  freebooting 
should  have  sprung  up  in  Kansas  during  the  war 
•was  no  more  than  might  have  been  expected. 
The  border  naturally  attracts  men  adapted  to 
shine  in  this  calling,  and  the  territorial  period 
afforded  admirable  training  for  the  wider  field 
of  spoliation  opened  by  the  war  for  the  Union. 
Early  in  the  struggle  an  organization  appeared 
known  as  "  Red-legs,"  from  the  fact  that  its  mem- 
bers affected  red  morocco  leggings.  It  was  a 
loose- jointed  association,  with  members  shifting 
between  twenty-five  and  fifty,  dedicated  originally 
to  the  vocation  of  horse  -  stealing,  but  flexible 
enough  to  include  rascalities  of  every  description. 


286  KANSAS. 

At  intervals  the  gang  would  dash  into  Missouri, 
seize  horses  and  cattle  —  not  omitting  other  and 
worse  outrages  on  occasion  —  then  repair  with 
their  booty  to  Lawrence,  where  it  was  defiantly 
sold  at  auction.  "  Red-legs  were  accustomed  to 
brag  in  Lawrence,"  says  one  who  was  familiar 
with  their  movements,  "  that  nobody  dared  to  in- 
terfere with  them.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  shoot 
inquisitive  and  troublesome  people.  At  Law- 
rence the  livery  stables  were  full  of  their  stolen 
horses.  One  day  I  saw  three  or  four  Red-legs 
attack  a  Missourian  who  was  in  town  searching 
for  lost  property.  They  gathered  about  him  with 
drawn  revolvers  and  drove  him  off  very  uncer- 
emoniously. I  once  saw  Hoyt,  the  leader,  with- 
out a  word  of  explanation  or  warning,  open  fire 
upon  a  stranger  quietly  riding  down  Massachu- 
setts Street.  He  was  a  Missourian  whom  Hoyt 
had  recently  robbed."  The  gang  contained  men 
of  the  most  desperate  and  hardened  character,  and 
a  full  recital  of  their  deeds  would  sound  like  the 
biography  of  devils.  Either  the  people  of  Law- 
rence could  not  drive  out  the  freebooters,  or  they 
thought  it  mattered  little  what  might  happen  to 
Missouri  disloyalists.  Governor  Robinson  made 
a  determined,  but  unsuccessful  effort  to  break  up 
the  organization.  The  Red-legs  repaid  the  inter- 
ference by  plots  for  his  assassination,  which  barely 
miscarried. 

In  the  destruction  of  Lawrence  August  21st, 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR   THE    UNION.          287 

1863,  the  irregular,  predatory  hostilities  of  the 
border  reached  a  shocking  climax.  The  causes 
which  brought  about  that  event  were  various,  and 
have  been  in  the  main  already  indicated  —  the 
campaign  of  Lane's  brigade,  the  depredations  of 
Red-legs,  enmities  and  exasperations  dating  back 
to  the  settlement  of  Lawrence  in  1854,  as  well  as 
ordinary  bushranging  motives  of  plunder.  "  Jen- 
nison  has  laid  waste  our  homes,"  was  the  declara- 
tion of  more  than  one  Missourian  on  the  day  of 
the  massacre,  "  and  the  Red-legs  have  perpetrated 
unheard-of  crimes.  Houses  have  been  plundered 
and  burned,  defenseless  men  shot  down,  and  wo- 
men outraged.  We  are  here  for  revenge  —  and 
we  have  got  it !  " 

Quantrill,  who  led  the  raid,  once  lived  in  Law- 
rence—  a  dullish,  sullen,  uninteresting  knave,  giv- 
ing no  promise  of  unusual  bushranging  genius. 
Just  before  the  war  opened  he  was  driven  from 
town  in  consequence  of  some  misbehavior,  and  cast 
his  lot  among  Missouri  guerrillas.  The  stimulus 
of  the  great  conflict  developed  in  him  unexpected 
capacities  for  marauding.  He  was  eager  to  cross 
swords  with  Lane.  "  I  should  like  to  meet  him," 
he  said.  "  But  then  there  would  be  no  honor  in 
whipping  him.  He  is  a  coward.  I  believe  I  would 
cowhide  him." 

In  1862  and  the  earlier  months  of  1863  several 
of  the  smaller  Kansas  towns  along  the  Missouri 
line  —  Aubrey,  Shawnee,  and  Olathe  —  were 


288  KANSAS. 

sacked  by  ruffians  under  Quantrill's  lead.  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  Carney,  who  succeeded  Governor 
Robinson  January  1st,  1863,  was  uneasy,  and 
vainly  importuned  the  War  Department  for  more 
troops.  In  May  he  visited  the  Southern  border, 
where  he  found  everything  in  confusion,  and  the 
whole  region  defenseless.  There  was  no  money 
in  the  state  treasury.  April  6th,  1862,  Lane  and 
eight  of  his  friends  addressed  a  communication 
to  the  secretary  of  war  and  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  protesting  "  against  the  payment  of  the 
money  due  to  the  State  of  Kansas  for  expenses  in 
organizing  volunteer  troops  for  the  service  of  the 
United  States,"  and  were  able  to  stop  it.  In  the 
emergency  Governor  Carney  raised  one  hundred 
and  fifty  mounted  men  for  police  duty,  and  paid 
expenses  out  of  his  own  pocket. 

That  Quantrill  meditated  striking  a  blow  at 
Lawrence  some  time  was  well  known.  There 
were  alarms,  citizens  organized  for  defense,  and 
kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  ruffian,  but  the  bush- 
rangers did  not  appear  when  they  were  expected, 
vigilance  relaxed,  and  a  fatal  sense  of  security  fol- 
lowed panic. 

Quantrill's  preliminary  movements  were  not 
wholly  enveloped  in  mystery.  Intelligence  that 
great  activity  prevailed  among  his  forces,  and  that 
he  was  planning  a  dash  into  Kansas,  reached  fed- 
eral headquarters  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  but  no  at- 
tention was  paid  to  it.  Had  scouts  been  dis- 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR    THE    UNION.         289 

patched  to  exposed  towns  and  warned  them  of 
danger  the  raid  would  have  failed. 

Late  on  the  afternoon  of  August  20th  Quan- 
trill,  with  perhaps  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
mounted  men,  crossed  the  Missouri  line  into  Kan- 
sas. In  Aubrey,  five  miles  distant,  there  was  a 
federal  force  of  one  hundred  dragoons  commanded 
by  Captain  J.  A.  Pike.  It  was  not  until  half- 
past  seven  in  the  evening  that  the  tardy  scouts 
brought  in  news  of  the  guerrillas'  whereabouts. 
Captain  Pike  dispatched  couriers  to  Kansas  City, 
thirty-five  miles  distant,  who  arrived  at  half-past 
eleven  o'clock.  Couriers  might  have  reached  Law- 
rence, a  ride  of  forty  miles,  about  midnight,  and 
in  that  case  the  bushrangers  would  have  encoun- 
tered a  warm  reception.  Or  had  Captain  Pike 
instantly  started  in  pursuit,  hanging  upon  their 
rear,  dogging  their  movements  with  menace  if  not 
attack,  Lawrence  would  have  been  saved. 

It  was  nearly  sunrise  when  Quantrill  reached  a 
little  swell  of  the  plain  about  a  mile  eastward 
from  the  doomed  town.  Not  a  whisper  of  his  ap- 
proach had  reached  it.  Yet  though  the  surprise 
promised  to  be  complete,  the  cowardly  raiders 
hesitated  —  declined  to  go  farther.  A  discussion 
ensued,  which  was  ended  by  Quantrill's  avowal 
that  he  should  go  into  Lawrence  whatever  his 
men  might  do.  This  declaration  revived  their 
fainting  courage. 

The  bushrangers  advanced  within  half  a  mile  of 

19 


290  KANSAS. 

the  town,  halted  again,  and  called  the  roll.  Two 
horsemen,  dispatched  on  a  reconnaissance,  rode 
through  the  principal  street,  and  returned  with 
the  report  that  the  village  was  asleep.  A  strange 
fatality  of  success  attended  the  movements  of  the 
guerrillas.  They  rode  "  leisurely  from  their  hid- 
ing-place in  Missouri  through  the  federal  lines, 
and  almost  within  shooting  distance  of  a  federal 
camp  in  the  day-time,"  says  H.  E.  Lowman  in  his 
"  Lawrence  Raid  "  ;  "  then  just  as  leisurely  made 
their  way  over  forty  miles  of  traveled  road 
through  Kansas  settlements  in  the  night,  and 
halted  —  called  the  roll  in  the  early  dawn  within 
pistol-shot  of  the  houses  of  residents  of  Law- 
rence, and  yet  no  warning  voice  .  .  .  rang  through 
her  quiet  streets  —  *  Quantrill  is  coming.' ' 

There  was  a  wild  charge  upon  the  village.  The 
flying  column  of  one  hundred  and  seventy -five 
men  riding  with  perfect  horsemanship,  yelling 
like  demons,  emitted  one  continuous,  death-deal- 
ing volley  as  it  dashed  along.  "  I  can  still  see  the 
raiders,"  said  an  eye-witness  of  the  scene  years 
after  the  fatal  morning,  "as  they  stormed  into 
town  with  their  broad-brimmed  hats  —  much  like 
those  which  cowboys  wear  on  the  plains  —  with 
their  unshaven  beards  and  long  hair,  their  dirty, 
greasy  flannel  shirts  —  coatless,  and  carrying  no 
weapons  except  side-arms." 

While  skirmishers  instantly  and  completely  en- 
veloped the  village,  the  main  body  pushed  on  to 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR    THE    UNION.         291 

seize  the  Eldridge  House,  a  substantial  brick 
building  four  stories  high,  which  could  have  been 
successfully  defended  by  a  dozen  armed  and  res- 
olute men  against  the  attacks  of  horsemen  whose 
heaviest  ordnance  was  revolvers.  But  weapons 
for  the  citizens  there  were  none.  A  fussy,  over- 
confident mayor  had  locked  them  up  safely  and 
inaccessibly  in  the  arsenal.  At  the  hotel  resist- 
ance was  apparently  anticipated.  The  bush- 
rangers drew  up  in  front  of  it  —  surveyed  it 
curiously,  doubtfully.  Presently  a  window  was 
flung  up,  a  white  sheet  displayed,  and  Quantrill 
summoned.  Surrender  speedily  followed  upon  con- 
dition that  the  inmates  of  the  hotel,  who  were 
mostly  strangers,  should  be  protected.  A  gong 
was  sounded  through  the  halls  to  collect  them  for 
convoy  to  the  Whitney  House,  where  Quantrill 
had  established  his  headquarters.  Mistaking  the 
clangor  for  a  signal  of  attack  the  ruffians  has- 
tily fell  back.  But  finding  their  fears  without 
foundation,  and  all  likelihood  of  concerted  resist- 
ance at  an  end,  they  broke  up  into  small  compa- 
nies, scoured  the  town  in  literal  and  hearty  obe- 
dience to  the  order — "  Kill  every  man  and  burn 
every  house." 

Then  began  a  scene  that  cannot  be  matched  on 
the  border,  crimsoned  as  it  is  with  blood  —  a 
scene  far  surpassing  Dutch  Henry's  Crossing  and 
Marais  des  Cygnes  in  scope  of  death-dealing  pas- 
sion —  a  scene  which,  like  the  massacre  of  Ennis- 


292  KANSAS. 

corthy,  "  swallowed  up  all  distinct  or  separate  fea- 
tures in  its  frantic  confluence  of  horrors."  Then 
began  a  terrible  exhibition  of  what  is  best  and 
worst  in  human  nature  —  rapacious  cupidities  of 
successful  pillage  ;  cowering,  palsied  panic ;  cour- 
age that  defied  and  cursed  the  villains  to  their 
faces ;  flight,  aimless  and  headlong  or  watchful 
and  stealthy  ;  pitiless  revenge  stung  by  memory 
of  wrongs  still  fresh  and  rankling ;  affection  that 
freely  and  gladly  braved  death ;  pistol-shots ;  tho 
clatter  of  horsemen  riding  furiously  ;  the  groans 
of  the  dying,  and  the  roar  of  conflagration.  With 
few  exceptions  the  bushrangers  seemed  to  be  de- 
humanized and  transformed  into  the  image  of 
devils.  The  divine  nature  of  love  and  mercy,  if 
it  ever  existed,  passed  away,  and  the  fiendish  na- 
ture took  its  place.  Stores,  banks,  hotels,  and 
dwellings  they  rifled  and  then  set  them  on  fire. 
Citizens  of  the  town  were  hunted  like  wild  beasts 
and  shot  down  indiscriminately.  They  pursued 
Red-legs  with  particular  earnestness,  and  showed 
them  no  mercy  when  captured.  Nor  did  they  neg- 
lect to  search  attentively  though  vainly  for  Lane 
and  the  thrifty  chaplain  of  his  brigade.  But  the 
wrath  of  the  raiders  burned  without  nice  distinc- 
tion or  qualification  against  all  the  male  inhabi- 
tants of  Lawrence,  of  whom  one  hundred  and 
eighty-three  fell  victims  in  the  butchery. 

The  heroism  and  fertility  of  resources  shown 
by  women  of  Lawrence  on  this  day  of  blood  are 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR   THE   UNION.          293 

worthy  of  mention.  At  no  other  crisis  of  Kansas 
history  does  their  service  come  into  such  bold  and 
brilliant  relief  —  of  which  only  an  instance  or  two 
can  be  set  down  here.  Four  wretches,  crazed  with 
drink,  rode  to  the  Whitney  House,  swearing  they 
would  shoot  some  one — it  didn't  matter  much 
whom.  A  young  woman  offered  herself,  remark- 
ing, "  They  might  as  well  kill  me  "  — an  act  of 
daring  that  temporarily  arrested  their  murderous 
designs.  Another  woman  fairly  magnetized  a 
brace  of  ruffians,  and  saved  her  husband's  life  by 
charm  of  manner  and  tact  of  conversation.  A 
third,  whose  husband  was  particularly  obnoxious 
to  the  bushrangers,  and  whom  they  were  anxious 
to  catch,  gave  him  opportunity  to  escape  by  notic- 
ing that  the  leader  of  the  gang  detailed  to  shoot 
him  and  burn  his  house  wore  a  flower  in  his  hat. 
"  Good  morning,"  she  said  cheerfully  ;  "  you  have 
come  to  see  my  flowers  "  —  the  front  yard  was 
full  of  them.  "  They  are  fine,"  he  said,  looking 
about  with  evident  admiration.  "  They  are  too 
d — d  pretty  to  be  burnt.  I  '11  shoot  the  man  that 
touches  them.  March  on  !  " 

When  the  work  of  butchery  and  destruction 
was  finished  Quantrill  took  a  lunch  at  the  Whit- 
ney House,  and  ordered  the  bushrangers  to  retire. 
"  Ladies,"  said  he,  politely  lifting  his  hat  and  bow- 
ing, "  I  now  bid  you  good  morning.  I  hope  when 
we  meet  again  it  will  be  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances ! " 


294  KANSAS. 

It  was  a  sickening  scene  from  which  the  guer- 
rilla chief  galloped  away  —  the  town  in  flames, 
the  principal  street  lined  with  corpses,  many  of 
them  so  charred  and  blackened  that  they  were  at 
first  mistaken  for  negroes.  "  In  handling  the  dead 
bodies,"  said  one  of  the  survivors,  "  pieces  of 
roasted  flesh  would  remain  in  our  hands.  Soon 
our  strength  failed  us  in  this  terrible  and  sicken- 
ing work.  Many  could  not  help  crying  like  chil- 
dren." 

Early  in  the  forenoon  the  bushrangers  were  re- 
treating toward  Missouri,  freshly  mounted  on 
stolen  horses,  and  heavily  accoutred  with  spoils. 
Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  citizens  who  sur- 
vived the  butchery  began  to  rally,  and  a  small 
company  under  the  lead  of  Lane,  who  happened 
to  be  in  town,  gave  chase.  The  pursuers,  whose 
numbers  were  slenderly  recruited  as  they  advanced, 
overtook  Quantrill  about  noon  near  Brooklyn, 
halted,  got  into  line,  were  counted,  and  found  to 
number  thirty-five  men.  They  were  mounted  on 
beasts  of  every  sort  —  mules,  half -trained  colts, 
and  slow-paced  draft-horses,  as  well  as  animals  of 
higher  grade.  Nor  were  their  weapons  less  vari- 
ous than  their  steeds.  Lane  put  Lieutenant  J.  K. 
Rankin  in  command,  who  attempted  to  execute  a 
flank  movement  by  way  of  Prairie  City  and  cut 
off  Quantrill's  retreat  into  Missouri.  The  little 
company  was  only  fairly  in  motion  when  a  courier 
rode  up  with  the  message  —  "  Major  Plumb  is 


DURING    THE    WAR  tOR   THE    UNION.          295 

yonder  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  and  sent 
me  to  notify  you."  "Tell  the  major  that  Quan- 
tiill  is  just  beyond  us  on  the  prairie,  and  that  we 
shall  attack  him  at  once." 

The  enemy  were  less  than  a  mile  away,  and 
Lieutenant  Rankin  ordered  a  charge  upon  the  rear- 
guard. Possibly  half  of  the  intervening  space 
had  been  traversed,  when  the  lieutenant  found 
himself  almost  alone.  As  each  trooper  had  a  gait 
and  speed  of  his  own,  the  company  was  scattered 
at  irregular  intervals  along  the  line  of  advance, 
and  from  a  military  point  of  view  did  not  present 
a  very  formidable  appearance. 

Major  Plumb's  force  divided,  one  company  mov- 
ing upon  QuantriU's  rear,  and  the  other  upon 
his  flank.  Lieutenant  Rankin,  seeing  that  little 
could  be  expected  from  his  thirty-five  stragglers, 
joined  the  former  company,  which  had  ridden 
within  striking  distance  of  the  bushrangers,  and 
ordered  a  charge,  but  the  valiant  troopers  declined 
to  make  it.  Soon  Lane  came  up  and  repeated  the 
command,  —  with  no  better  result.  Major  Plumb 
shortly  arrived  with  his  division,  and  there  was 
still  opportunity  to  ride  down  the  marauders.  The 
federal  commander  hesitated  and  missed  his  op- 
portunity. Pursuit  continued  into  Missouri,  re- 
prisals were  made,  and  three  or  four  border  coun- 
ties, in  obedience  to  General  Thomas  Ewing  Jr.'s 
famous  order  No.  11,  largely  depopulated  —  but 
the  desperadoes  escaped. 


296  KANSAS. 

When  the  full  extent  of  the  massacre  dawned 
upon  the  survivors,  there  rose  a  frantic  reaction 
toward  revenge.  Woe  to  the  man  within  reach 
upon  whom  suspicion  of  confederacy  with  the 
marauders  might  fall.  Had  the  troops  who 
brought  them  to  bay  on  the  prairies  fully  ap- 
preciated the  enormity  of  their  crimes,  possibly 
the  hideous  knowledge  might  have  strung  their 
courage  up  to  the  fighting  point.  However  that 
may  have  been,  the  spectacle  of  sons,  brothers, 
fathers,  neighbors,  slaughtered  with  every  aggrava- 
tion of  cowardly  brutality  — of  a  town  completely 
wrecked  and  given  over  to  the  torch  —  kindled 
the  dead  coals  of  desperation  and  revenge.  There 
was  a  luckless  wight  —  Jake  Callew  by  name  — 
against  whom  lay  suspicions  of  playing  the  spy  in 
the  interest  of  Quantrill  —  suspicions  vague,  indi- 
rect, unevidenced,  but  sufficient  to  rouse  a  mob 
that  would  listen  to  no  appeals  deprecating  vio- 
lence, or  pleading  for  delay. 

"  The  sea  enraged  is  not  half  so  deaf." 

The  mob  seized  Callew  and  arraigned  him  before 
an  extemporized  court.  A  verdict  was  rendered 
that  the  evidence  did  not  prove  his  guilt.  "  You 
have  heard  the  verdict,"  said  the  judge,  address- 
ing the  frenzied  rout.  "  Now,  gentlemen,  what 
will  you  do  with  the  prisoner?"  "Hang  him," 
was  the  quick  response.  Preparations  for  the  gib- 
bet went  on  apace.  It  occurred  to  somebody  that 


DURING  THE   WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         297 

the  doomed  man  might  need  the  consolations  of 
religion.  Among  the  spectators  a  clergyman  was 
discovered.  "  You  had  better  make  your  peace 
with  God  for  you  don't  stand  much  chance  with 
this  crowd,"  said  the  clergyman.  "  You  need  n't 
trouble  yourself  about  my  soul,"  the  unapprecia- 
tive  sinner  replied.  "  How  do  you  like  that,  old 
fellow,"  broke  in  the  hangman  as  he  gave  a  tug  at 
the  rope  and  swung  the  poor  wretch  into  eternity ! 
The  destruction  of  Lawrence  did  not  allay  the 
feuds  among  Kansas  officials.  Lane's  relations 
with  Governor  Carney  ran  through  the  entire 
gamut  of  variation  from  friendship  to  hostility, 
from  hostility  to  confidential  intimacy.  He  still 
struggled  for  absolute  control  of  the  military  pat- 
ronage of  the  state,  and  generally  carried  his  point. 
Carney  determined  to  make  an  end  of  this  dis- 
creditable business  —  a  senator  of  Kansas  usurp- 
ing the  functions  of  the  governor  of  Kansas.  "  No 
governor  with  a  proper  self-respect,"  he  wrote 
President  Lincoln  .  .  .  could  or  would  tolerate 
such  interference.  What  other  loyal  state  has 
been  thus  humiliated  ?  .  .  .  Kansas  stands  alone. 
I  claim  for  her  that  she  shall  be  the  equal  of  the 
proudest  of  them.  ...  I  ask  the  revocation  of 
the  power  conferred  on  J.  H.  Lane  as  recruiting 
commissioner."  This  letter  Governor  Carney 
followed  up  by  an  interview  with  President  Lin- 
coln, at  the  conclusion  of  which  he  addressed  the 
following  note  to  Secretary  Stanton,  dated  Wash- 


298  KANSAS. 

ington,  May  28th,  1864 :  "  Please  see  and  Kear  the 
governor  of  Kansas  with  Judge  Williams  and  Mr. 
Vaughn.  Will  we  not,  at  last,  be  compelled  to 
treat  the  governor  of  Kansas  as  we  do  other  gov- 
ernors about  raising  and  commissioning  troops? 
I  think  it  will  have  to  be  so."  Governor  Carney 
delivered  this  note  in  person  to  Secretary  Stanton 
who  read  it,  tore  it  in  two,  and  said  angrily  — 
"  Tell  the  president  that  I  am  secretary  of  war." 
Carney  turned  on  his  heel.  "  Wait,"  said  Stanton, 
in  a  milder  tone.  "What  do  you  want?"  An 
understanding  was  reached,  and  henceforth  the 
governor  of  Kansas  was  to  be  treated  like  other 
governors. 

After  the  Lawrence  raid  Kansas  experienced  no 
general  upheaval  until  the  attempted  invasion 
of  General  Sterling  Price,  who  led  a  daring  expe- 
dition, in  the  autumn  of  1864,  from  Arkansas 
across  the  State  of  Missouri,  living  upon  the 
country  through  which  he  passed,  remounting 
his  cavalry  with  fresh  horses,  threatening  St. 
Louis,  then  deflecting  toward  Jefferson  City,  and 
pushing  on  to  the  Kansas  line  before  his  advance 
was  successfully  arrested.  Great  alarm  prevailed. 
October  8th  Governor  Carney  called  out  the  en- 
tire militia.  Ten  thousand  six  hundred  men  re- 
sponded, and  were  mostly  concentrated  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Kansas  City  —  a  gallant,  but  un- 
disciplined force.  The  battles  at  Lexington,  along 
the  Little  Blue  and  the  Big  Blue,  demonstrated 


DURING   THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         299 

their  inability  to  cope  with  Price.  The  arrival  of 
General  Pleasanton  on  the  22d  with  seven  thou- 
sand cavalry  and  eight  pieces  of  artillery  put  a 
new  face  upon  the  campaign.  On  the  next  day 
the  battle  of  Westport  was  fought,  and  the  bold 
raiders  turned  southward  in  confusion.  Their  re- 
treat scurried  along  the  border,  bending  into  Linn 
County,  zigzagging  toward  Fort  Scott,  then  turn- 
ing eastward  and  southward  until  it  crossed  the 
Arkansas. 

The  expedition  of  Price  was  the  last  Confederate 
foray  into  Kansas.  A  long  series  of  Missouri  inva- 
sions closed  with  his  retreat  across  the  Arkansas. 
Bushrangers,  jayhawkers,  Red-legs,  who  played  so 
prominent  and  so  protracted  a  part  on  the  stage 
of  local  history,  now  make  a  leisurely  exit. 

The  first  five  years  of  Kansas  history  after  ad- 
mission to  the  Union  were  years  of  intrigue,  con- 
fusion, alarm,  and  guerrillaism.  With  the  wounds 
of  the  territorial  struggle  unhealed,  with  a  heavy 
percentage  of  the  population  under  arms,  with  the 
streams  of  immigration  almost  completely  dried 
up,  it  was  not  possible  that  Kansas  should  make 
material  or  social  progress  while  the  war  for  the 
Union  continued.  The  forces  of  repair  and  devel- 
opment were  unequal  to  the  waste. 

The  man  who  figured  so  largely  in  Kansas  af- 
fairs during  the  rebellion  did  not  long  survive  its 
close.  When  tho  Republican  party  broke  with 
President  Johnson,  Lane  declined  to  join  in  the 


300  KANSAS. 

attack  upon  him.  This  step  gave  offense  to 
former  friends.  "  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,"  he 
said  in  the  Senate  April  6th,  1866,  "I  propose 
to-day  and  hereafter  to  take  my  position  alongside 
the  president."  His  course  disposed  Republican 
senators  to  investigate  discreditable  rumors  about 
him  that  filled  the  air.  Charges  of  corruption  in 
connection  with  Indian  contracts  had  been  made 
vaguely  in  the  public  prints  against  some  un- 
named senator.  "  I  propose  to  fill  up  the  hiatus," 
wrote  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Bos- 
ton "Commonwealth,"  "and  let  the  public  know 
.  .  .  that  the  charge  refers  to  Senator  James  H. 
Lane."  Governor  Carney,  whose  relations  with 
Lane  were  now  on  a  confidential  footing,  hap- 
pened to  be  at  his  lodgings  when  the  mail  ar- 
rived containing  a  copy  of  the  "  Commonwealth  " 
—  which  he  read  and  then  handed  to  Carney. 
"  Oh  that  's  nothing,"  said  Carney,  cheerfully. 
"  You  have  been  charged  with  about  everything 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  That  does  n't  amount 
to  much."  "  Does  n't  amount  to  much ! "  Lane 
repeated  in  a  very  excited  and  tragic  manner. 

The  next  morning  Carney  returned  and  found 
Lane  in  a  pitiable  plight  —  half-clad,  his  hair 
erect  and  bristling,  his  small,  sunken,  snaky  eyes 
burning  like  live  coals,  his  "sinister  face,  plain 
to  ugliness,"  figured  over  with  desperation,  and 
raving  that  two  sunshine  friends  whom  he  sus- 
pected of  treachery  must  be  sent  for  at  once,  the 


DURING  THE   WAR  FOR   THE   UNION.         301 

one  to  receive  a  challenge,  the  other  a  cowhid- 
ing.  The  gentlemen  present  —  Perry  Fuller,  the 
Indian  trader  in  whose  government  contracts 
Lane  was  accused  of  having  pecuniary  interest, 
Major  Heath,  and  Governor  Carney  —  bestirred 
themselves  to  refute  the  newspaper  charges.  Ma- 
jor Heath  wrote  a  corrugated  oath  denying  that 
Lane  ever  had  financial  transactions  with  Fuller 
of  greater  magnitude  than  house-renting,  and  Ful- 
ler signed  it.  Then  something  must  be  done 
about  the  Senate.  Lane  felt  that  he  could  not 
take  his  seat  again  without  a  personal  explana- 
tion. As  he  was  incapable  of  doing  the  work 
himself  in  his  distraught  condition,  Carney  and 
Heath,  who  did  not  then  know  all  the  facts,  wrote 
out  a  short  speech,  pronouncing  the  "  imputation 
conveyed  by  innuendo  and  indirection  in  the  Bos- 
ton 'Commonwealth'  ...  a  baseless  calumny." 
On  the  following  day  —  May  29th  —  Lane  read 
this  speech  from  manuscript  in  the  Senate,  and 
shortly  afterward  returned  to  his  lodgings.  "  The 
speech,"  he  said,  "was  just  the  thing.  It  was  one 
of  the  happiest  little  efforts  of  my  life." 

June  llth  Lane  obtained  leave  of  absence  for 
ten  days,  subsequently  prolonged  until  the  close 
of  the  session,  to  visit  Kansas,  where  such  was 
the  hostility  which  grew  out  of  his  alliance  with 
President  Johnson,  he  met  a  cold  and  hostile  re- 
ception. Old  acquaintances  passed  him  on  the 
street  without  recognition,  and  political  conven- 


802  KANSAS. 

tions  denounced  him.  It  was  a  reception  far  dif- 
ferent from  what  had  awaited  him  in  other  days. 
"  When  Lane,"  said  the  "  Leavenworth  Daily 
Conservative"  January  28th,  1862,  "touches  this 
soil,  which  his  own  courage,  his  own  strategy,  his 
own  unconquerable  perseverance  saved  for  free- 
dom, a  glorious  halo  surrounds  his  head,  a  sub- 
lime inspiration  fills  his  eye,  a  splendid  glow  lights 
up  his  countenance  !  " 

After  Lane's  personal  explanation  in  the  Senate 
Carney  made  a  visit  of  some  days  to  New  York. 
Upon  his  return  to  Washington  he  met  Senator 
Doolittle,  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee  on 
Indian  affairs,  who  showed  him  the  copartnership 
papers  of  the  Indian  traders,  Fuller  &  Co.,  in 
which  Lane's  name  appeared,  and  a  canceled 
check  on  E.  H.  Gruber  &  Co.,  of  Leavenworth, 
which  proved  that  he  had  received  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  from  the  concern. 

Spending  a  few  unhappy  days  in  Kansas  — 
doubly  unhappy  in  the  case  of  one  so  eager  for  the 
applause  of  men,  so  ambitious 

"  To  live  on  their  tongues  aiid  be  their  talk,"  — 
Lane  set  out  for  Washington.  He  reached  St. 
Louis  on  the  19th  of  June.  There  he  met  Gov- 
ernor Carney,  and  the  whole  situation  was  dis- 
cussed —  the  fatal  papers  in  Senator  Doolittle's 
possession,  and  the  exasperation  of  Republican 
congressmen.  "  Do  you  think,"  he  asked,  "  that 
I  had  better  resign?  Do  you  suppose  Johnson 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.         303 

would  give  me  a  foreign  mission?  Could  I  be 
confirmed  ?  "  No  light  of  hope  appeared,  "  freak- 
ing gloom  with  glow."  Lane  returned  to  Leav- 
enworth,  where  on  the  1st  of  July  he  placed  the 
pistol  in  his  mouth  and  discharged  it.  Though 
the  bullet  passed  through  the  brain,  such  was  his 
vitality,  he  survived  ten  days. 

No  more  unscrupulous  soldier  of  fortune  ever 
posed  before  the  public  than  James  H.  Lane.  He 
possessed  in  large  measure  the  qualities  that  find 
a  congenial  and  successful  field  in  border  turmoils. 
Of  a  slight  and  wiry  figure,  he  had  remarkable 
physical  endurance.  When  removed  from  lead- 
ership of  the  overland  "Northern  army"  in  1856, 
he  set  off  immediately  from  Nebraska  for  Law- 
rence. Riding  night  and  day,  he  arrived  at  his 
destination  alone,  and  without  apparent  fatigue. 
His  half  -  dozen  companions,  including  Captain 
Samuel  Walker  and  Old  John  Brown,  all  gave  out 
by  the  way. 

Lane  was  a  confusion  of  passions  grossly  but 
not  wholly  ignoble.  "  Nobody  can  study  his  face," 
says  Mrs.  Ropes  in  her  vivacious  "  Six  Months 
in  Kansas,"  "  without  a  sensation  very  much 
like  that  with  which  one  stands  at  the  edge  of  a 
slimy,  sedgy,  uncertain  morass."  Conscienceless 
and  with  little  confidence  in  the  truth;  selfish, 
grasping  to  the  last  degree,  though  at  times  and 
by  spasms  alive  with  seeming  generosity  and  pub- 
lic spirit ;  watching  the  vanes  of  popular  senti- 


304  KANSAS. 

ment  and  veering  with  them,  though  occasionally 
showing  unexpected  boldness  and  obstinacy  of 
opinion  ;  attracting  men  and  managing  them  con- 
summately ;  able  to  pay  heaviest  obligations  in 
the  cheap  coin  of  promises;  indomitably  persis- 
tent ;  cowardly  and  courageous  by  turn ;  a  merci- 
less enemy,  but  faithful  to  friends  where  personal 
interest  did  not  require  their  sacrifice,  Lane  be- 
longed to  the  basest,  most  mischievous  class  of 
politicians. 

As  a  stump  speaker  he  had  no  equal  on  the 
border.  "  I  heard  him  at  Nebraska  City  in  1856, 
before  a  hostile  audience,"  says  T.  W.  Higginson, 
"•  and  if  eloquence  consists  in  moving  and  swaying 
men  at  pleasure  I  never  saw  a  more  striking  ex- 
hibition of  it."  Lane's  oratory  faithfully  reflected 
the  character  of  the  man,  in  which  elements  of 
chaos  and  lunacy  were  bound  up  with  extraordi- 
nary astuteness  and  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
It  owed  little  to  elocutionary  grace.  His  manner 
was  strained,  angular,  and  dramatic,  while  his  voice 
vibrated  between  shouts  and  blood-curdling  whis- 
pers. Neither  weight  of  thought,  nor  subtilty  of 
logic,  nor  elevation  of  sentiment,  nor  exceptional 
range  of  vocabulary,  appeared  in  his  oratory. 
Lane  was  an  unlettered  man.  In  his  hands  rules 
of  grammar  fared  badly.  His  knowledge  came 
from  observation  rather  than  from  books.  Types 
can  do  only  scant  justice  to  oratory  that  is  es- 
sentially personal,  and  hence  his  speeches  lose  in 


DURING  THE    WAR  FOR  THE   UNION.         305 

print.  Skillful  adaptation  to  time  and  place  ;  sure 
tact  in  humoring  the  prejudices  and  firing  the 
passions  of  an  audience ;  unmeasured  invective ; 
an  intensity  of  utterance  that  sometimes  reached 
the  verge  of  frenzy ;  grotesque,  extravagant,  ring- 
ing turns  of  phrase,  and  what,  in  the  absence  of  a 
better  word,  is  called  magnetism,  seem  to  be  the 
capital  elements  of  Lane's  singularly  effective 
speech. 

That  the  harm  which  such  a  man  does  to  a 
commonwealth  must  largely  exceed  the  service 
goes  without  saying.  Lane's  energy,  enthusiasm, 
and  eloquence  were  serviceable  in  the  territorial 
struggle,  but  even  then  these  admirable  qualities 
had  a  serious  offset  in  his  restless  jealousy,  in- 
trigue, and  rashness.  The  free-state  cause  would 
not  have  been  safe  in  his  hands  an  hour  at  any 
critical  juncture.  But  if  the  evil  was  checked 
and  mitigated  at  first  by  the  necessities  of  the 
situation,  when  Lane  reached  the  United  States 
Senate  and  gained  the  ear  of  the  administration, 
then  his  wretched  policies  and  ambitions  had 
ample  sea-room  — policies  and  ambitions  that  de- 
bauched the  political  morals  of  the  commonwealth 
and  drew  upon  it  a  grievous  train  of  calamities. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

AD   ASTRA. 

IT  is  often  difficult,  some  one  has  said,  to  man- 
age the  future  of  an  heroic  action  —  a  problem  no 
more  formidable  for  individuals  than  for  states. 
An  exceptional,  brilliant  past  demands  a  present 
and  a  future  that  shall  not  be  out  of  harmony  or 
fall  into  anti-climax.  Kansas  has  a  significant 
and  memorable  history ;  the  territorial  struggle 
converted  a  wilderness,  which  had  little  claim 
upon  the  interest  of  mankind,  into  historic  ground. 

But  now  we  reach  a  different  epoch.  From  the 
date  of  settlement  until  the  close  of  the  war  for 
the  Union,  though  in  the  later  stages  it  broke 
down  into  discreditable  political  intrigue  and  mur- 
derous bushfighting,  the  history  of  Kansas  pur- 
sued a  single  theme.  The  war  for  the  Union 
caught  up  and  nationalized  the  verdict  of  the  ter- 
ritorial broil. 

In  the  large  influx  of  colored  people  from  the 
South  in  1878-79  there  was  indeed  a  striking  af- 
ter-piece of  the  border  conflict.  Out  of  the  unset- 
tled condition  of  affairs  in  the  South,  out  of  the 
frictions  and  hardships  unavoidable  in  a  radical 


AD  ASTRA.  307 

reconstruction  of  society,  an  extensive  colored  ex- 
odus sprang.  Reports  were  rife  that  in  Kansas 
—  a  name  glorified  in  their  minds  as  having 
some  vague  connection  with  emancipation  —  better 
homes,  larger  opportunities,  kindlier  treatment, 
awaited  them  than  could  be  expected  elsewhere. 
A  colored  convention,  attended  by  delegates  from 
fourteen  states,  met  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  May 
7th,  1879,  and  advised  colored  people  of  the  South 
to  "  emigrate  to  those  states  and  territories  where 
they  can  enjoy  all  the  rights  which  are  guaran- 
tied by  the  laws  and  constitution  of  the  United 
States."  The  excitement,  fanned  by  outrages  and 
demagogues,  became  intense.  Notwithstanding 
the  conciliatory  efforts  of  Southern  planters  and 
the  warnings  of  prominent  colored  leaders,  who  op- 
posed migration  as  a  remedy  for  grievances,  not 
less  than  forty  thousand  negroes  reached  Kansas 
in  every  stage  of  destitution.  These  fugitives  re- 
lief societies  took  in  charge  ;  provided  with  shel- 
ter, clothing,  and  food  ;  organized  into  new  colo- 
nies, or  distributed  among  the  older  communities. 
On  the  whole,  they  seem  to  have  improved  their 
circumstances  by  the  flight,  though  at  the  expense 
of  much  temporary  discomfort.  It  was  dramat- 
ically befitting  —  a  fact  not  destitute  of  pathetic 
and  poetic  suggestion  —  that  Southern  negroes, 
in  the  extremities  of  reconstruction,  should  have 
turned  their  eyes  toward  the  state  where  the  first 
blow  was  struck  for  their  freedom. 


308  KANSAS. 

The  people  of  Kansas  in  1865  dropped  the 
sword  and  grasped  the  plow.  "  A  happy  nation," 
says  Ruskin,  "  may  be  defined  as  one  in  which  the 
husband's  hand  is  on  the  plow  and  the  housewife's 
on  the  needle."  Though  embarrassed  from  1864 
to  1870  by  Indian  hostilities,  in  which  at  least  a 
thousand  citizens  lost  their  lives  and  much  prop- 
erty was  destroyed ;  though  scorched  by  occasional 
droughts  ;  though  visited  in  1874  by  plagues  of  lo- 
custs which  desolated  large  districts,  devouring 
fruits,  vegetables,  and  grains  with  inexhaustible 
voracity,  so  that  the  familiar  story  of  destitute, 
starving  Kansas  was  heard  once  more,  yet  few 
American  commonwealths  have  ever  made  so 
much  material  progress  in  twenty  years. 

This  progress  appears  the  more  remarkable 
when  we  consider  the  geographical  notions  cur- 
rent fifty  years  ago,  not  to  mention  those  that 
Senator  Green,  of  Missouri,  avowed  so  late  as  the 
Lecompton  debate.  Fifty  years  ago  no  agricul- 
tural future  was  thought  possible  for  Kansas.  It 
belonged  to  that  vast  Mediterranean  tract,  the 
greater  part  of  which  Irving  thought  would  "•  form 
a  lawless  interval  between  the  abodes  of  civilized 
man,  like  the  wastes  of  the  ocean  or  the  deserts 
of  Arabia.  .  .  .  Here  may  spring  up  new  and 
mongrel  races,  like  new  formations  in  geology,  the 
amalgamations  of  the  ddbris  and  abrasions  of  for- 
mer races  civilized  and  savage ;  .  .  .  the  descend- 
ants of  wandering  hunters  and  trappers ;  of  fu- 


AD  ASTRA.  309 

gitives  from  the  Spanish  and  American  frontiers; 
of  adventurers  and  desperadoes  of  every  class  and 
country,  yearly  ejected  from  the  bosom  of  society 
into  the  wilderness." 

Irving's  prophecy  went  wide  of  the  mark.  No 
mongrel  races,  the  detritus  of  neighboring  civili- 
zations, overrun  Kansas.  The  wastes  have  disap- 
peared or  are  disappearing.  And  recent  writers 
do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  the  Great  American 
Desert  a  myth. 

Little  was  done,  as  has  been  said  before,  to  test 
the  material  resources  of  Kansas  until  the  close 
of  the  Rebellion.  The  Indians,  it  is  true,  dab- 
bled in  agriculture.  They  succeeded  in  raising 
slender  crops  of  corn,  beans,  and  pumpkins.  Rev. 
Thomas  Johnson  and  other  missionaries  tried  in- 
effectually to  deepen  their  practical  interest  in  the 
soil.  During  the  territorial  period  political  inter- 
ests compelled  a  paramount  attention.  When  the 
war  for  the  Union  broke  out  there  followed  a  still 
greater  diversion  from  farm  industry.  "  One  half 
of  our  entire  population,  between  the  ages  of  eigh- 
teen and  forty-five,"  Governor  Robinson  wrote 
September  1st,  1862,  "  is  in  the  army." 

The  population  of  Kansas  in  1865  was  135,807. 
In  the  two  succeeding  decades  the  increase  reached 
nearly  a  million  souls,  an  immigration  scarcely 
precedented  in  volume.  A  corresponding  agricul- 
tural development  followed,  which  placed  Kansas, 
according  to  the  census  of  1880,  seventeenth  on 


310  KANSAS. 

* 

the  list  of  states  in  value  of  farm  products,  and 
eighth  in  value  of  live  stock.  In  1884  the  wheat 
crop  was  48,050,431  bushels  against  25,279,884 
in  1880.  The  corn  crop  rose  from  101,421,718 
bushels  in  1880  to  190,870,686  in  1884.  Olher 
branches  of  farm  industry  advanced  proportionally 
during  the  years  1882-84,  so  that  in  1884  Kansas 
ranked  among  the  foremost  states  in  agricultural 
products. 

Meteorological  changes  have  accompanied  the 
settlement  of  Kansas.  However  the  fact  may  be 
explained,  whatever  agency  the  sudden  and  ex- 
tensive agriculture  or  the  planting  of  artificial  for- 
ests, which,  including  fruit-trees,  were  estimated 
in  1884  at  171,810  acres,  may  have  exerted,  the 
amount  of  annual  rain-fall,  according  to  the  fore- 
most Kansas  authority  in  such  matters,  Professor 
Snow,  of  the  State  University,  shows  an  increase 
of  five  inches  in  Eastern  Kansas  during  the  last 
twenty  years  compared  with  a  like  pre-settlement 
period.  In  this  augmented  precipitation  the  west- 
ern third  of  Kansas  has  shared,  but  so  moderately 
as  to  promise  little  for  agriculture.  Apparently 
successful  farming  in  that  region  must  await  the 
introduction  of  some  practicable  system  of  irriga- 
tion. 

The  creation  of  a  great  state  in  the  wilderness 
of  Kansas  since  1865  is  mainly  a  feat  of  the  rail- 
road. "  If  this  invention,"  said  Emerson,  "  has 
reduced  England  to  a  third  of  its  size  by  bring- 


AD  ASTRA.  311 

ing  people  so  much  nearer,  in  this  country  it  has 
given  a  new  celerity  to  time,  or  anticipated  by 
fifty  yeai's  the  planting  of  tracts  of  land."  With- 
out the  adventurous  forecast  and  push  of  railway 
corporations,  which  drew  public  attention  to  the 
resources  of  Kansas  and  put  them  within  reach, 
its  settlement,  like  that  of  older  states,  would  have 
stretched  over  a  much  longer  period.  By  a  sys- 
tem of  advertising  which  skillfully  seized  upon 
avenues  of  communication  —  newspapers,  pam- 
phlets, traveling  agents,  national  and  interna- 
tional exhibitions  —  these  corporations  greatly 
abridged  the  ordinary  course  of  events.  Rail- 
ways now  penetrate  every  part  of  the  state,  — 

"  And  thatch  with  towns  the  prairies  broad." 

At  the  last  national  census  Kansas  had  reached 
the  ninth  place  among  the  states  in  railway  mile- 
age. January,  1885,  the  amount  of  main  track 
exceeded  four  thousand  miles. 

Certainly  Kansas  is  assured  of  whatever  star- 
ward  energy  may  reside  in  numbers  or  in  ma- 
terial prosperities.  That  their  tendency  is  not 
altogether  ennobling  and  uplifting  social  philoso- 
phers have  been  careful  to  point  out.  Matthew 
Arnold  ventures  his  hope  for  the  future  on  rem- 
nants in  Israel  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal.  Carlyle  sneers  at  political  economy,  and 
disparages  Americans  in  particular  as  a  genera- 
tion of  dollar-hunters. 


812  KANSAS. 

* 

"  Oh,  better  far  the  briefest  hour 
Of  Athens  self-consumed  whose  plastic  power 
Hid  beauty  safe  from  Death  in  words  or  stone ; 
Of  Rome,  fair  quarry  where  those  eagles  crowd 
Whose  fulgurons  vans  about  the  world  had  blown 
Triumphant  storm  and  seeds  of  polity  ; 
Of  Venice,  fading  o'er  her  shipless  sea, 
Last  iridescence  of  a  fading  cloud ; 
Than  this  inert  prosperity 
This  bovine  comfort  in  the  sense  alone  ! " 

Mere  bigness  will  not  do  much  for  a  state  or 
nation  except  in  politics,  where  heavy  weights 
tell.  Holland,  with  limited  area  and  population, 
is  the  mother  of  illustrious  statesmen,  soldiers,  and 
scholars,  and  at  one  time  championed  the  cause  of 
freedom  for  the  world.  But  while  industrial  and 
numerical  progress  does  not  necessarily  imply 
progress  in  culture,  yet  it  lays  broad  foundations 
upon  which  culture  may  build.  It  enlarges  the 
scope  of  possibilities.  The  outcome  of  a  splendid 
material  development  will  turn  on  the  question 
whether  high  moral,  intellectual,  aesthetic,  and 
idealizing  forces  mingle  in  it,  — 

"And  set  onr  pulse  in  tune  with  moods  divine." 
Kansas  is  not  wanting  in  these  superior  forces. 
The  New  England  colonists,  though  feebly  influ- 
enced by  motives  of  technical  theology,  gave  im- 
mediate attention  to  the  establishment  of  a  church. 
October  1st,  1854,  Rev.  S.  Y.  Lum  preached  at 
Lawrence  the  first  sermon  delivered  to  white  men 
in  the  territory.  The  Pioneer  Hotel  served  as' 
a  meeting-house.  "  A  few  rough  boards  were 


AD  ASTRA.  313 

brought  for  seats,"  Mrs.  Robinson  wrote,  "  and 
with  singing  by  several  good  voices  among  the 
pioneers  the  usual  church  services  were  performed. 
.  .  .  The  people  then,  as  on  many  succeeding  sab- 
baths, were  gathered  together  by  the  ringing  of 
a  large  dinner  bell."  Plymouth  Congregational 
Church  was  organized  October  15th,  with  seven 
membeis,  and  is  the  oldest  in  Kansas.  Other 
denominations  began  work  in  the  territory  at  an 
early  day.  But  as  the  religious  history  of  the 
commonwealth  exhibits  little  that  is  exceptional, 
it  will  not  now  be  set  forth  at  large.  To  home 
missionaries — to  their  patient,  self-denying,  he- 
roic and  sometimes  perilous  service  —  Kansas  is 
heavily  indebted.  The  State  had  2046  church 
organizations  in  1884,  with  a  membership  up- 
wards of  185,000. 

Educational  matters  have  awakened  strong  in- 
terest in  Kansas  and  exhibit  praiseworthy  prog- 
ress, though  the  expectations  of  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Education  for  1858-9  have  not  as  yet 
been  realized.  "It  should  be  the  aim  of  the  edu- 
cators of  Kansas,"  said  the  optimistic  committee, 
in  a  report  recommending  that  the  schools  should 
be  supplied  with  Webster's  dictionaries,  "  to  make 
this  territory  a  model  state  in  American  lit- 
erature. In  this  new  territory  we  have  all  the 
requisite  elements  for  building  up  a  system  of 
universities,  colleges,  schools,  and  seminaries  of 
learning  unequaled  by  any  other  on  the  globe. 


314  KANSAS. 

• 

Your  committee  believe  it  is  the  province  of  the 
people  of  Kansas  to  inaugurate  an  educational 
system  which  shall  perfect  the  English  language 
as  well  as  English  literature."  It  may  have  been 
sympathy,  more  or  less  conscious,  with  these  lib- 
eral expectations  that  induced  the  territorial  leg- 
islature in  the  sessions  of  1855-60  to  incorporate 
eighteen  universities  and  ten  colleges!  Out  of 
these  twenty-eight  institutions,  twenty-five  have 
perished  —  a  mortality  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  education. 

Governor  Reeder  commended  the  subject  of 
schools  to  the  legislature  assembled  at  Pawnee, 
saying,  with  admirable  point,  "  It  is  always  bet- 
ter to  pay  for  the  education  of  a  boy  than  the 
punishment  of  a  man."  The  first  territorial  legis- 
lature, which,  was  more  modest  in  the  matter  of 
universities  than  most  of  the  legislatures  that  fol- 
lowed, since  it  incorporated  only  three,  provided 
for  the  establishment  of  schools  in  each  county, 
"  which  shall  be  open  and  free  to  every  class  of 
white  citizens,"  and  directed  that  half  the  fines 
paid  into  county  treasuries  should  be  applied  to 
their  support.  When  the  legislature  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  free-state  men  in  1857,  they  recon- 
structed and  liberalized  the  school  system,  and 
created  the  office  of  territorial  superintendent. 
Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  almost  nothing  was  done 
under  territorial  laws  until  1859.  January  1st, 
1859,  not  more  than  five  school  districts  had  been 


AD  ASTRA.  315 

organized  in  Douglass  County  which  was  better 
circumstanced  in  this  matter  than  the  other  coun- 
ties. But  before  June,  thirty  additional  districts 
were  organized.  And  during  this  period  consid- 
erable educational  machinery  was  set  up  in  the 
rest  of  the  territory. 

In  Lawrence  private  schools  began  at  an  early 
date.  "  You  have  laid  out  grounds  for  a  college," 
Mr.  Lawrence  wrote  Governor  Robinson,  Novem- 
ber 21st,  1854,  "  and  will  have  a  good  one,  with- 
out doubt,  in  due  time ;  but  in  the  first  place 
you  must  have  a  preparatory  school."  On  the 
16th  of  January,  1855,  a  private  school  —  the  ear- 
liest in  the  territory  of  any  kind  —  was  opened  in 
the  Emigrant  Aid  building.  It  continued  four- 
teen or  fifteen  weeks,  with  an  attendance  of  twenty 
scholars.  From  its  close,  three  terms  of  private 
school,  for  three  months  or  less,  comprised  all  the 
educational  facilities  of  Lawrence  until  the  30th 
of  March,  1857,  when  a  select  school  of  larger 
pretensions  was  opened.  It  continued  for  two 
years,  with  C.  L.  Edwards  as  principal,  and  was 
called  the  "  Quincy  High  School,"  in  honor  of 
Josiah  Quincy,  of  Boston.  "  A  school  is  now  in 
progress  under  the  Unitarian  Church,  with  two 
teachers  and  about  fifty  scholars,"  said  a  letter- 
writer  April  17th,  1857. 

In  the  spring  of  1857  Mr.  Lawrence  gave  ten 
thousand  dollars  to  the  city  of  Lawrence,  the  in- 
come of  which  should  be  devoted  to  school  pur- 


316  KANSAS. 

poses.  Originally  a  memorial  college  seems  to 
have  been  in  mind.  "  You  shall  have  a  college," 
he  wrote  Rev.  Ephraitn  Nute,  of  Lawrence,  De- 
cember 16th,  1856,  "  which  shall  be  a  school  of 
learning,  and  at  the  same  time  a  monument  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  those  martyrs  of  liberty 
who  fell  during  the  recent  struggles.  Beneath  it 
their  dust  shall  rest.  In  it  shall  burn  the  light 
of  liberty,  which  shall  never  be  extinguished.  .  .  . 
It  shall  be  called  the  '  Free  State  College,'  and  all 
the  friends  of  freedom  shall  be  invited  to  lend 
a  helping  hand."  The  dream  had  a  touching, 
though  accidental  and  shadowy  realization.  No 
free-state  college  was  ever  built,  but  in  making 
excavations  for  the  main  building  of  the  State 
University  workmen  disinterred  the  remains  of  a 
dead  soldier. 

For  a  time  the  income  of  the  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars was  applied  to  the  support  of  the  Quincy 
High  School.  This  fund  attracted  the  attention 
of  religious  denominations,  among  which  no  less 
than  three  —  Presbyterians,  Congregationalists, 
and  Episcopalians  —  lured  by  hopes  of  obtaining 
it  as  a  nucleus  for  endowment,  attempted  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  college  in  Lawrence.  The  Pres- 
byterians were  first  in  the  field,  secured  a  site,  and 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  college  building.  In  the 
spring  of  1859  the  "  Circular  of  the  Lawrence 
University  "  appeared,  announcing  that  an  "  In- 
stitution of  Learning  of  the  first  class  has  been 


AD  ASTRA.  317 

chartered  and  established  at  Lawrence,  Kansas. 
.  .  .  The  institution  will  open  on  the  llth  of 
April  next  [1859],  and  continue  for  a  term  of 
three  months."  In  the  faculty  "eminent  teach- 
ers "  and  "  distinguished  educators  "  were  found, 
so  that  the  institution  confidently  promised  to  fur- 
nish the  "  culture  and  discipline  essential  to  suc- 
cess and  eminence  in  any  walk  of  life."  But  the 
undertaking  did  not  prosper.  Denominational 
feuds  hurt  it,  and  failure  to  get  possession  of  the 
Lawrence  fund  completed  its  ruin.  "  We  did  not 
feel  justified  as  a  board,"  wrote  the  secretary  of 
the  trustees  to  Mr.  Lawrence,  "  to  commence  a 
university  in  Kansas  at  the  present  time  without 
the  benefit  of  your  fund."  In  1860  the  Congre- 
gationalists  took  up  the  enterprise  and  proposed 
to  build  a  "  Monumental  College."  An  act  of 
incorporation  was  procured,  a  board  of  trustees 
elected,  and  a  subscription  paper  circulated.  The 
subscription  paper  met  with  some  success.  Money 
and  material  to  the  amount  of  four  thousand  dol- 
lars, town  lots,  twenty  acres  of  land  in  Lawrence 
and  twelve  hundred  elsewhere  were  pledged,  pro- 
vided thirty  thousand  dollars  should  be  raised 
before  January  1st,  1861.  That  sum  could  not 
be  secured,  and  the  effort  failed.  Finally  the 
Episcopalians  took  the  business  in  hand.  They 
effected  an  organization,  chose  trustees,  and  so- 
licited funds  to  complete  the  "  Lawrence  Univer- 
sity." Governor  Robinson  writes  May  22d,  1861, 


318  KANSAS. 

that  the  "  Episcopal  College  trustees  "  have  pur- 
chased the  site  and  basement  of  the  building  com- 
menced last  year  by  the  Presbyterians,  and  are 
anxious  to  secure  the  Lawrence  fund.  But  they 
did  not  get  the  money,  and  accomplished  little 
beyond  a  partial  completion  of  the  unfinished 
building. 

The  much-sought  ten  thousand  dollars  fell  at 
last  to  the  State  University,  as  did  the  assets  of  all 
the  contemplated  colleges  in  Lawrence  that  pre- 
ceded it,  and  had  decisive  influence  in  determin- 
ing where  it  should  be  placed.  "  The  legislature 
has  passed  a  law,"  Governor  Robinson  wrote  Mr. 
Lawrence  February  23d,  1863,  "locating  the  State 
University  at  Lawrence,  on  condition  that  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  shall  be  paid  into  the  treasury  in 
six  months,  and  forty  acres  of  land  given  to  the 
University.  If  these  conditions  are  not  complied 
with,  then  the  University  is  [to  be]  located  at 
Emporia.  ...  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that 
the  location  was  secured  here,  and  nothing  saved 
us  but  the  inducements  of  your  fund." 

The  school  system  of  Kansas  does  not  require 
elaborate  exposition  in  this  place.  In  addition  to 
primary  and  intermediate  schools,  the  state  sup- 
ports three  higher  institutions,  which  are  in  suc- 
cessful and  progressive  operation,  the  Normal 
School  at  Emporia,  the  Agricultural  College  at 
Manhattan,  and  the  University  at  Lawrence. 
Seven  religious  denominations  have  established 


AD  ASTRA.  319 

colleges  or  universities  which  constitute  an  im- 
portant factor  of  educational  work  in  the  state. 
Among  Kansas  teachers,  it  is  due  them  to  say,  a 
commendable  alertness,  enthusiasm,  and  ambition 
prevail.  Their  work  gives  evidence  that  the  very 
highest  mission  of  education  is  not  wholly  unap- 
preciated. That  mission  cannot  be  accomplished 
by  processes,  however  admirable,  of  drill  and  ac- 
quisition alone.  Recognizing  the  fact  that  moral 
and  sentimental  problems  are  by  no  means  the 
least  important  for  a  community ;  that  the  first 
order  of  citizenship  is  impossible  without  the  ser- 
vice of  the  impassioned  imagination  to  body  forth 
living,  vivid  conceptions  of  ethical  and  sesthetical 
realities,  the  ideal  education  creates  vitalized  in- 
telligence, alive  and  responsive  to  whatever  is 
nobly  said  or  done. 

In  the  ministry  of  physical  environment,  which, 
in  its  higher  forms,  is  a  perennial  source  of  aes- 
thetic, idealizing,  poetic  inspirations  for  commu- 
nities as  well  as  individuals,  Kansas  at  once  has 
drawbacks  and  advantages.  Expanses  of  rolling 
prairie,  flattening  on  the  western  border  into  level 
plains,  sparingly  watered  with  brooks  and  riv- 
ers, unbroken  by  great  mountain  ranges,  without 
the  shadows,  recesses,  and  deep  seclusions  of  pri- 
meval forests,  exposed  and  bare  to  all  the  garish 
sunshine  of  the  year,  have  obvious  limitations  of 
scenic  power.  Yet  there  are  compensations.  Some 
phases  of  beauty  shine  in  magnificent  exhibition. 


320  KANSAS. 

There  may  be  seen  gorgeous  splendors  of  cloud- 
gloiy ;  lustrous  starlight  and  moonlight  in  com- 
parison with  which  northern  heavens  seem  faded 
and  withdrawn ;  the  winter  greenery  of  wheat 
fields;  the  faint,  delicate  blush  of  maple  buds 
that  sometimes  give  signs  of  life  in  February  ;  the 
brilliant  bloom  of  wild  crab-apple  and  Judas  trees, 
greeting  the  spring ;  expanses  of  landscape  rich 
with  half  tropical  vegetation,  figured  with  infinite 
interplay  of  light  and  shade,  — 

"  Vast  as  the  sky  against  whose  sunset  shores, 
Wave  after  wave  the  billowy  greenness  pours." 

It  only  remains  to  note  the  eager,  restless,  pro- 
gressive spirit  which  distinguishes  Kansas.  This 
spirit  has  appeared  and  is  appearing  variously.  It 
is  exhibited  in  the  great  and  as  yet  unsettled  tem- 
perance agitation,  which  amended  the  organic  law 
of  the  state  by  the  introduction  of  a  prohibitory 
clause ;  in  the  admission  of  both  sexes  to  the  State 
University  from  the  date  of  its  foundation ;  in  the 
service  of  women  as  county  superintendents  of 
schools  and  as  university  regents  and  professors  ;  in 
literary  and  art  circles,  which  form  an  interesting 
feature  of  various  towns  ;  in  the  Woman's  Social 
Science  Club,  an  organization  that  embraces  Kan- 
sas and  Western  Missouri,  and  holds  semi-annual 
meetings  for  the  discussion  of  social,  domestic, 
hygienic,  and  literary  topics.  Such  an  aggressive 
and  ambitious  temper,  which  has  the  nerve  to 
venture,  to  experiment,  if  need  be,  at  the  expense 


AD  ASTRA.  321 

of  tradition  and  precedent,  promises  effectual  de- 
fense against  enervating  influences — against  the 
insidious  lethargy  of  fierce  summer  heats  and  that 
" bovine  comfort"  of  broad  and  teeming  acres 
which  Lowell  deprecates. 

The  history  of  Kansas  which  began  three  dec- 
ades ago  with  a  wilderness,  with  the  fence  and 
skirmish  that  preluded  a  tremendous  civil  war, 
closes  with  a  great  commonwealth  rich  in  the 

material  and  immaterial  things  essential  to  life. 
21 


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Journal  of  the  Missouri  Senate,  1858-59. 

Kansas,  History  of  the  State  of.     Chicago,  1883. 

Kansas  State  Rights.  An  Appeal  to  the  Democracy  of  the  South. 
Washington,  1857. 

Lays  of  the  Emigrants,  as  sung  by  Parties  for  Kansas  on  the  Days 
of  their  Departure  from  Boston.  Boston,  1855. 

Louisiana,  History  of.  From  the  French  of  M.  Le  Page  du  Pratz. 
London,  1774. 

Lowman,  H.  E.     The  Lawrence  Raid.     Lawrence,  Kansas,  1864. 

"  Lynceus,"  Letters  of,  for  the  People  on  the  Present  Crisis.    1853. 

Magazine,  The  Kansas.      Topeka. 

Massachusetts  Emigrant  Aid  Company.     Boston,  1 854. 

Meline,  J.  F.  Two  Thousand  Miles  on  Horseback.  New  York, 
1868. 

Miscellaneous  Documents  [Senate],  34th  Congress,  1st  and  2d 
Session.  Nos.  17,  32,  49,  58,  80. 

[Senate],  34th  Congress,  3d  Session.     Nos.  17,  48. 

[H.  R.],  34th  Congress,  1st  and  2d  Sessions.  Nos.  3,  42, 

82,  90,  100,  101,  103,  119,  120. 


326  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

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[Senate],  35th  Congress,  1st  Session.    Nos.  140,  165,  194, 

204,  206,  228,  232,  242. 
[H.  R.],  35th  Congress,  1st  and  2d  Sessions.    Nos.  37,  39, 


40,  41,  43,  44,  50,  60,  80,  95,  103,  104,  120,  124. 

[Senate],  36th  Congress,  1st  and  2d  Sessions.    Nos.  16,  23. 

[H.  R.],  36th  Congress,  1st  Session.     Nos.  6,  34. 

[Senate],  37th  Congress,  3d  Session.     No.  29. 


New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Company.     Boston,  1854. 
New  Haven  Memorial,  The,  to  the  President.    Boston,  1857. 
Orville,  J.  V.     History  of  American  Conspiracies.    New  York. 
Parker,  N.  H.     Kansas  and  Nebraska  Handbook.    Boston,  1857. 
Phillips,  Wendell.     Orations,  Speeches,   Lectures,  and   Letters. 

Boston,  1884. 

Phillips,  W.  A.     The  Conquest  of  Kansas.    Boston,  1856. 
Pike,  Major  Z.  M.     An  Account  of  Expeditions.     Philadelphia 

[1808]. 

Rebellion  Record,  The.    New  York. 
Redpath,  J.     The  Public  Life  of  Captain  John  Brown.     Boston, 

1860. 

The  Roving  Editor.     New  York,  1859. 

and  Hinton,  R.  J.      Handbook  to  Kansas.     New  York, 

1859. 

Register,  The  Kansas  Annual 
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[H.  R.],  33d  Congress,  2d  Session.     Nos.  36,  37. 

[Senate],  34th  Congress,  1st  and  2d  Sessions.   Nos.  34, 198, 

282. 
[H.  R.],  34th  Congress,  1st  and  2d  Sessions.    Nos.  3,  181, 


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[H.  R.],  34th  Congress,  3d  Session.     Nos.  173,  186,  179, 


184. 

[H.  R.],  35th  Congress,  1st  Session.    No.  377. 

[Senate],  35th  Congress,  1st  Session.     No.  82. 

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104. 
Richardson,  A.  D.     Beyond  the  Mississippi.     Hartford,  1867. 


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Boston,  1856. 

Ropes,  Mrs.  H.  A.     Six  Months  in  Kansas.     Boston,  1856. 

Sanborn,  F.  B.  The  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Brown.  Boston, 
1885. 

Life  of  John  Brown  [in  Orcutt's  History  of  Torrington, 

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Scribner's  Statistical  Atlas.     New  York. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  The  Works  of.     Boston. 

Smithsonian  Reports,  1869. 

Stephens,  A.  H.     The  War  between  the  States. 

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Thoreau,  H.  D.  A  Yankee  in  Canada,  with  Anti-Slavery  and 
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Three  Years  011  the  Kansas  Border.     New  York,  1856. 

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Transactions  of  the  Kansas  Historical  Society.     Topeka,  1881. 

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War  of  the  Rebellion,  The.  A  Compendium  of  the  Official  Rec- 
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Webb,  R.  D.  Life  and  Letters  of  Captain  John  Brown.  Lon- 
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Webb,  Thomas  H.  Information  for  Kansas  Immigrants.  Bos- 
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ESTDEX. 


Abbott,  J.  B.,  88,  179,  199,  242. 

Abolitionists,  the  early,  15. 

Atchison,  D.  R.,  24,  25  ;  designs  in 
Kansas,  56  ;  course  of  in  the  Waka- 
rusa  War,  97,  98,  100  ;  at  Lawrence 
May  21,  1856,  121,  122,  123,  124  ;  ap- 
peals of  to  the  South,  173,  174,  188, 
189;  conference  of  with  Governor 
Geary  at  Franklin,  200,  201. 

Atchison,  town  of,  28. 

Atkins,  Representative  of  Tennessee, 


Babcock,  C.  W.,  95,  96. 

Bayard,  J.  A.,  on  Emigrant  Aid  Com- 
pany, 33  ;  on  the  Topeka  movement, 
77  ;  on  the  Lecornpton  Constitution, 
223. 

Beecher,  H.  W.,  165. 

Bell,  John,  9,  23. 

Benjamin,  J.  P.,  75. 

Benton,  T.  H.,  7,  11. 

Biggs,  Senator,  of  North  Carolina, 
•231. 

Black  Jack,  battle  of,  154-156. 

Blood,  James,  132,  143,  148,  185,  199. 

Blue  Lodges,  41. 

Bourgmont,  M.  de,  20. 

Branscomb,  C.  H.,  34. 

Branson,  Jacob,  8G,  87  ;  arrest  and 
rescue  of,  88,  89. 

Brindle,  General  William,  230. 

Brooks,  P.  S.,  129. 

Brown,  John,  speech  of  at  Lawrence, 
100,  101  ;  relation  of  to  Kansas  his- 
tory, 137  ;  character  and  theories  of, 
138-141  ;  raid  of  upon  the  Pottawa- 
tomie,  142-154;  fight  of  at  Black 
Jack,  154-156;  foray  of  upon  St. 
Bernard,  156,  157  ;  releases  Pate, 
159-161  ;  narrow  escape  of  from 
capture,  171  ;  at  Lawrence,  Septem- 
ber, 1850,  199;  declaration  of  to 
Captain  Snyder,  244  ;  letter  of  to  A. 
A.  Lawrence,  251  ;  interview  of  with 
Governor  Robinson,  252  ;  raid  of 
into  Missouri,  252-255. 


Brown,  John  Carter,  30. 
Brown,  John,  Jr.,  141,  142. 
Brown,  R.  P.,  72,  73. 
Buchanan,  James,  210,  211,  230. 
Buford,  Jefferson,  105,  106,  125. 
Bulkley,  Harrison,  87. 
Bull  Creek,  190,  198. 
I! u. si  11  it'll,  Horace,  31. 
Butler,  A.  P.,  8,  97,  105. 
Butler,  Rev.  Pardee,  79-82. 
Byrd,  J.  H.,  65. 

Cabot,  Dr.  Samuel,  Jr.,  30,  166. 

Calhoun,  John,  221,  229,  230. 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  4. 

Callew,  Jake,  295, 296. 

"  Candle-box  "  election  returns,  the, 
seizure  of,  229,  230. 

Carney,  Governor  Thomas,  271,  273, 
287,  297,  298 ;  confidential  relations 
of  with  Lane,  299-302. 

Caskie,  John  S.,  8. 

Cass,  Lewis,  on  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  1 ;  presents  the  Topeka  me- 
morial to  the  Senate,  74,  75 ;  de- 
nounces Sumner's  speech,  128. 

Cato,  Judge  S.  G.,  letter  to  Governor 
Shannon  on  the  Pottawatomie  raid, 
152 ;  course  of  toward  free-state 
prisoners,  202 ;  a  mandamus  of,  219. 

Census,  first  territorial,  43;  second 
territorial,  212. 

Chase,  S.  P.,  9,  10, 12. 

Choate,  Rufus,  13. 

Church,  Lieutenant  J.  R.,  disperses 
John  Brown,  Jr.'s  company,  141, 
142,  147. 

Clarke,  G.  W.,  raid  of  in  the  South- 
east, 239,  240 ;  arrest  of,  248,  249. 

Clay,  Henry,  1. 

Cliue,  Captain,  190. 

Coates,  Kersey,  50. 

Coleman,  F.  N.,  86,  87. 

Committees,  Eastern  Aid,  operations 
of,  164. 

"  Commonwealth,"  the  Boston,  299, 
300. 


330 


INDEX. 


Compromise,  the,  of  1850,  1,  11. 

"  Conservative,"  the  Leavenworth, 
278,  301. 

Constitutional  Convention,  the,  at 
Topeka,  70,  71 ;  at  Lecompton,  211, 
220-226 ;  at  Minneola  and  Leaven- 
worth,  261 ;  at  Wyandotte,  263,  264. 

Convention,  the,  at  Salt  Creek  Val- 
ley, June,  1854,  27  ;  at  Lawrence, 
June  27,  1855,  63 ;  August  14-15,  63, 
68-69;  at  Big  Springs,  October  5, 
64-68 ;  at  Topeka,  September  19,  69 ; 
at  Leavenworth,  November  14,  83, 
84 ;  at  Topeka,  July  4, 1856,  131 ;  at 
Lecompton,  July,  1857,  215 ;  at  To- 
peka, July,  216 ;  at  Grasshopper 
Falls,  August,  216,  217;  at  Law- 
rence, December,  225-228. 

Conway,  M.  F.,  54,  90,  104. 

Cooke,  Colonel  P.  St.  George,  171, 192, 

193,  194,  198,  199,  200. 
Coronado,  17-19. 
Court,  Squatter,  242-244. 
Covode,  John,  281. 
Crittenden-Montgomery  bill,  the,  234. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  135,  265. 

Debates  of  1850  and  1854,  comparison 

of,  4. 
De  Bow's  Review,  "  An  Appeal  "  in, 

175,  176. 

Deitzler,  G.  W.,  60. 
Democratic  party,  the,  changes  of  in 

nomenclature,  263. 
Democratic  Review,  49,  60,  106,  234. 
Denver,  J.  W.,  appointment  of  as  act- 
ing governor,    228 ;    familiarity    oi 
with  the  border,  229;  letter  of  to 
President  Buchanan,  231 ;  visit  o: 
to  the  Southeast,  250,  251 ;  refusal 
of  to  remove  from  Lecompton,  259 
vetoes  bill  for  a  Constitutional  Con 
vention,  259 ;  resignation  of,  260. 
Dixon,   Archibald,  amendment  of  to 

the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  3. 
Dodge,  A.  C.,  bill  of  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  Nebraska,  2. 
Donaldson,  Marshal  J.  B.,  proclama- 
tion of,  118 ;  at  Topeka,  July  4, 1856 
133,  134. 

Doolittle,  Senator,  302,  303. 
Douglas,  8.  A.,  Chairman  of  Senat 
Committee  on  Territories,  3  ;  state 
ment  of  to  Senator  Dixon,  3,  4  ;  re 
lation  of  to  the  Compromise  of  185( 
6,  6 ;  qualifications  of  for  leader 
ship,  6 ;  debates  of  with  Lincoh 
8,  9 ;  burnt  in  effigy,  14  ;  on  th 
Emigrant  Aid  Company,  33  ;  on  th 
convention  at  Big  Springs,  68 ;  a 
tacks  the  Topeka  Memorial,  74,  75 
76  ;  denounces  Sutnner,  129 ;  on  th 


slavery  clause    of    the  Lecompton 

Constitution,  222. 
>ow,  Charles  M.,  86. 
'oyle,  James  P.,  145,  147. 
'red  Scott  decision,  The,  210. 
>unn  Bill,  the,  107. 
>utch  Henry's  Crossing,  massacre  at, 

142-154;   consequences  of  the  raid 

upon,  176,  190. 

laston,  affray  at,  72,  73. 
Edwards,  C.  L.,  314. 
Elections,  territorial,  November,  1854, 
40 ;  March  30,  1855,  43-49 ;  October 
5,  1857,  218;   December  21,   1857, 
and  January  4,  1858,  225,  228-230. 
Eldridge,  8.  W.,  172,  179,  180. 
Elmore,  Rush,  133,  134,  222. 
"Imerson,  R.  W.,  164,  310. 
Emery,  J.  S.,  104. 

migrant  Aid  Company,  29-33  ;  towns 
founded  by,  34 ;  rumors  concerning 
on  the  border,  39,  40. 
nglish  Bill,  the,  235,  236. 
Inglish,  W.  H.,  14,  235. 
Sverett,  Edward,  9,  23. 
Examiner,  the  Christian,  232. 

Famine  of  1860,  the,  271. 

Fort  Orleans,  20. 

Fort  Saunders,  capture  of,  182. 

Fort  Scott,  238,  239;  expedition  of 
Captain  Walker  to,  248,  249 ;  at- 
tacked by  Montgomery,  249,  250 ; 
Denver's  visit  to,  250,  251. 

Fort  Titus,  capture  of,  182-185. 

Franklin,  attacks  upon,  179-182. 

Free-State  party,  the,  63,  64,  216-218, 
225-228,  262,  265,  266. 

Fuller,  Perry,  300. 

Geary,  J.  W.,  appointment  of  as  gov- 
ernor, 197  ;  succors  Lawrence,  198- 
201  ;  efforts  of  to  reform  the  judi- 
ciary, 202,  203 ;  proclamation  of  for 
a  day  of  thanksgiving,  203 ;  inter- 
view of  with  Governor  Robinson, 
204  ;  assault  on,  205,  206  ;  letter  of 
to  A.  A.  Lawrence,  207 ;  resigns, 
208. 

Gihon,  J.  H.,  on  the  second  territorial 
legislature,  205. 

Gladstone,  T.  H.,  117,  128,  268. 

Green,  J.  S.,  on  Emigrant  Aid  Com- 
pany, 33 ;  member  of  conference 
committee  on  the  Lecompton  bill, 
235;  opposes  the  Wyandotte  Con- 
stitution, 264. 

Grinnell,  Moses  H.,  31. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  31. 
Halleck,  General  H.  W.,  279,  280. 


INDEX. 


331 


Halpine,  C.  G.,  Report  of,  276. 
Hamilton,  Charles  A.,  244-246. 
Hammond,  Senator  of  South  Carolina, 

231,236. 

Harlan,  James,  75. 
Harris,   James,  testimony  of  on  the 

Pottawatomie  raid,  150. 
Harvey,  J.  A.,  192,  193,  201. 
Heiskell,  W.  A.,  letter  to  Governor 

Shannon  on  the  Pottawatomie  raid, 

150,  151. 

Hickory  Point,  Jefferson  County,  skir- 
mish at,  201,  202. 
Higgiuson,  T.  W.,  303. 
Houston,  Samuel,  9,  23. 
Houston,  S.  D.,  55. 
Howard,  W.  A.,  108,  114,  235. 
Howe,  Dr.  S.  G.,  30,  1C9. 
Hoyt,  Major,  D.  S.,  murder  of,  182. 
Hughes,  Representative    of    Indiana, 

212. 

Hughes,  Thomas,  148. 
Hunter,    General    David,    276,    279- 

281. 

Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  235. 
Hutchinson,  William,  185. 
Hyatt,  Thaddeus,  168,  169. 

Indian  chiefs,  opinions  of  concerning 
Lane,  278,  279. 

Investigating  Committee,  the  Con- 
gressional, 108,  145,  146. 

Irving,  W.,  on  the  "  Great  American 
Desert,"  307,  308. 

Iverson,  Alfred,  232. 

Jayhawking,  note  on  the  origin  of  the 
word,  240. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  remarks  of  upon 
John  Brown,  146. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Thomas,  53,  308. 

Johnston,  Colonel  J.  E.,  170,  200. 

Jones,  S.  J.,  87,  88  ;  arrests  Branson, 
88 ;  appeals  to  Missouri  and  Gov- 
ernor Shannon,  90,  91 ;  on  the  Waka- 
rusa treaty,  99,  100  ;  makes  arrests 
in  Lawrence,  108,  109  ;  attempted 
assassination  of,  109,  110  ;  at  Law- 
rence, May  21,  1856,  122,  123,  125, 
126,  127  ;  assails  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  219  ;  advice  of  to  McLean,  229, 
230. 

Judiciary,  the  territorial,  202,  203. 

Kansas,  territorial  boundaries,  17  ;  a 
part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  19  ; 
migrations  across,  22 ;  an  Indian 
reservation,  22  ;  an  arena  for  exper- 
iments in  popular  sovereignty,  23 ; 
Southern  opinion  of,  231,  232 ;  ad- 
mission of  to  the  Union,  266  ;  char- 
acter of  the  struggle  for,  265,  266 ; 


social  condition  of  in  the  territorial 
period,  268-270 ;  drouth  in,  270 ; 
exodus  "  of  neproes  to,  305,  300 ; 
Irving  on,  307,  308;  Indian  trou- 
bles in,  307  ;  agricultural  develop- 
ment of,  308,  309 ;  meteorological 
changes  in,  309,  310 ;  indebtedness 
to  railroads,  310  ;  religious  progress 
of,  311,  312  ;  educational  history  of, 
312-318  ;  natural  scenery  of,  318, 
319  ;  spirit  and  temper  of,  319, 
320. 

Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  2,  3 ;  its  revis- 
ions, 4  ;  Southern  views  of,  7,  8  ;  ar- 
guments for,  6-8 ;  argument  against, 
10,  12  ;  review  of  the  debate  on,  12, 
13  ;  consequences  of  the  passage  of, 
13,  14. 

Kickapoo,  28. 

Lane,  J.  H.,  63 ;  at  Big  Springs,  64, 
65  ;  President  of  the  Topeka  Consti- 
tutional Convention,  70 ;  elected 
senator  under  the  Topeka  move- 
ment, 74 ;  in  charge  of  the  Topeka 
memorial  to  Congress,  75,  76  ;  col- 
lision with  Douglas,  76,  77  ;  second 
in  command  during  Wakarusa  War, 
92  ;  speech  at  Franklin,  99  ;"  North- 
ern army  "  of,  169,  170  ;  expedition 
of  against  Fort  Saunders,  182 ; 
marches  to  Lecompton,  193,  194  ; 
operations  of  in  Jefferson  County, 
201 ;  election  of  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  272  ;  campaign  of  in  1861, 
274-278  ;  "  Great  Southern  Expedi- 
tion "  of,  279-281 ;  declarations  of 
to  General  McClellan,  279  ;  appoint- 
ment of  as  Commissioner  for  re- 
cruiting, 281,  282  ;  downfall  and 
death  of,  298-302  ;  character  and  in- 
fluence of,  302-304. 

Lawrence,  Amos  A.,  30,  35,  49,  61,  92, 
104,  166, 197,  199,  251  ;  efforts  of  for 
the  release  of  Governor  Robinson, 
195,  196;  Letter  of  to  Governor 
Robinson,  314 ;  bequest  of  to  the 
city  of  Lawrence,  314  ;  letter  of  to 
Rev.  E.  Nute,  315. 

Lawrence,  founding  of,  34,  35 ;  siege 
of  in  the  Wakarusa  War,  91  ;  attack 
upon,  May  21,  1856,  118-128;  con- 
dition of  in  the  summer  of  1856, 
179,  180 ;  destruction  of  by  Quan- 
trill,  285-296  ;  schools  and  colleges 
at,  314-317. 

Leavenworth,  28  ;  election  riot  at,  72  ; 
Emory's  regulators  in,  188. 

Leavenworth  Constitution,  259-261. 

Lecompte,  S.  D.,  charge  of  to  the  grand 
jury  of  Douglas  County,  111,  112 ; 
letter  of  to  J.  A.  Stewart,  123  ;  con- 


332 


INDEX. 


troversy  of  with  Governor  Geary, 
203. 

Lecompton,  28;  panic  at,  186,  187; 
reconnaissance  upon,  192-194 ;  af- 
fray at,  206,  207  ;  free-state  demon- 
stration at,  221. 

Lecompton  Constitution,  the,  211,  212, 
220-225,  227-230  ;  in  Congress,  232- 
236. 

Legislature,  territorial,  first  session 
of,  53,  54-58  ;  second  session  of, 
205 ;  extra  session  of,  227,  228  ;  third 
session  of,  257-259 ;  fourth  session 
of,  262. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  expeditions  of,  21. 

Lexington,  Mo.,  Convention,  24. 

Liberator,  the,  29,  31. 

Liberty  township,  skirmish  in,  238, 
239. 

Lincoln,  A.,  debates  with  Douglas, 
8,  9 ;  relations  of  with  Lane,  274  ; 
indorsement  of  on  Halleck's  letter, 
280  ;  letter  of  to  Secretary  Stanton, 
297. 

Lines,  C.  B.,  165. 

Little,  Marshal,  242-244. 

Log  Cabins,  102,  268. 

Long,  Major  H.  S.,  21. 

Lowrnan,  H.  E.,  289. 

Lowrey,  G.  P.,  90,  95,  96. 

Lurn,  Rev.  S.  Y.,  311. 

"  Lynceus,"  24,  25. 

McClellan,  General  G.  B.,  279,  280. 

McGee  County,  frauds  in,  218. 

Mclntosh,  Lieutenant  James,  109,  110. 

McLean,  L.  A.,  229,  230. 

Marais  des  Cygnes  Massacre,  244- 
246. 

Mason,  James  M. ,  129. 

Massachusetts  Legislature,  the  resolu- 
tions of,  163. 

Madary,  Samuel,  261. 

Minneola,  258,  259. 

Missouri  Compromise,  3,  7,  11-13. 

Missouri  Legislature,  action  of  in  ref- 
erence to  troubles  in  the  Southeast, 
252-255. 

Missouri  River,  the,  embargo  on,  166, 
167. 

Missouri,  Western,  population  of,  24, 
25 ;  squatters  from,  26. 

Montgomery,  James,  240, 241  ;  attempt 
of  to  kill  Hamilton,  244;  attacks 
Fort  Scott,  249,  250. 

Morrow,  Robert,  172. 

Native  American  Suffrage,  41,  42. 
Nute,  Rev.  E.,  316. 

Oliver,  Mordecai,  apology  of  for  his 
constituents,  39 ;  investigations  of 


concerning  the  Pottawatomie  raid, 
146. 

Osawatomie,  34 ;  pillage  of,  162 ;  bat- 
tle of,  190,  1'Jl. 

Osceola,  Missouri,  sack  of,  275. 

Overland  immigration,  167,  172. 

Oxford,  frauds  at,  218. 

Parkville  Luminary,  the,  47. 

Pate,  Captain  H.  C.,  152,  153  ;  surren- 
ders at  Black  Jack,  155,  156;  re- 
leased by  Colonel  Suuiner,  159,  101. 

Pawnee,  53. 

Phillips,  William,  49,  50,  188. 

Phillips,  W.  A.,  164. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  election  of  as  presi- 
dent, 2 ;  dispatch  of  to  Shannon, 
119  ;  declarations  of  concerning  the 
free-state  movement,  195,  196 ;  re- 
leases Governor  Robinson,  196. 

Pike,  Captain  J.  A.,  288. 

Pike,  Lieutenant  Z.  M.,  21. 

Plumb,  P.  B.,  294. 

Plymouth  Church,  312. 

Polk,  Senator  of  Missouri,  233,  234. 

Pomeroy,  S.  C.,  126,  172,  195,  196, 
272. 

Popular  Sovereignty,  first  appearance 
of  in  politics,  7  ;  constitutionally  ex- 
ercised when,  8,  9. 

Pottawatomie  Massacre,  the,  142-154, 
1G2,  176,  190. 

Prairie  City,  skirmish  at,  153,  154. 

Presidential  Election  of  1856,  the, 
209. 

Preston,  Colonel  W.  J.,  171,  172. 

Price  Raid,  the,  297,  298. 

Pugh,  George  E.,  75. 

Quantrill,  W.  C.,  286-294. 

"  Red-legs,"  the,  284-286. 

Redpath,  James,  170. 

Reeder,  A.  H.,  37,  38 ;  canvass  of  re- 
turns of  the  March  election,  1885, 
49-52  ;  visits  Washington,  52 ; 
breaks  with  the  legislature,  55,  56 ; 
removal  from  office,  58 ;  character 
of  his  administration,  58 ;  at  Big 
Springs,  65-68 ;  elected  senator  un- 
der the  Topeka  movement,  74  ;  at- 
tempted arrest  of,  113,  114. 

Reid,  J.  W.,  190,  191,  200,  238. 

Republican  party,  the,  organization 
of  in  Kansas,  202,  263. 

Robinson,  Charles,  33,  34  ;  letters  to 
A.  A.  Lawrence,  35, 49,  61, 62.  92, 93, 
104,  199, 203,  204,  314, 317  ;  urges  M. 
F.  Conway  to  resign  his  seat  in  the 
territorial  legislature,  54 ;  scheme  of 
counter-moves,  59 ;  secures  Sharpe's 
rifles,  60  ;  an  abolitionist,  64 ;  elected 


INDEX. 


333 


governor  under  the  Topeka  Consti- 
tution, 71 ;  consulted  by  Branson 
rescuers,  89,  90  ;  in  command  dur- 
ing the  Wakarusa  War,  92  ;  speech 
at  Franklin,  99 ;  Atcuisou  on,  100  ; 
plans  for  a  visit  to  the  East,  114, 
115 ;  arrested  at  Lexiugtou,  Mo., 
116 ;  experiences  of  at  Leaveuworth, 
110,  117  ;  letter  to  the  Topeka  Leg- 
islature, 132 ;  Missourians  on  the 
plans  of,  174;  interview  of  with 
Governor  Geary,  204 ;  favors  voting, 
217,  218  ;  accompanies  Governor 
Denver  to  the  Southeast,  250 ;  inter- 
view of  with  old  John  Brown,  252  ; 
leadership  of,  2G6 ;  message  of  to 
the  state  legislature,  271  ;  relations 
of  to  Lane,  272 ;  letter  of  to  General 
Fremont,  275,  276  ;  reply  of  to  Sec- 
retary Stantou,  282 ;  impeachment 
of,  282-284. 

Robinson,  Mrs.  S.  T.  L.,  89,  164,  184, 
196,  312. 

Rodrigue,  Aristides,  185. 

Ropes,  Mrs.  H.  A.,  304, 

Sanborn,  F.  B.,  154. 

Saunders,  Fort,  capture  of,  182. 

Sedgwick,  Major  John,  183,  185,  186. 

Selby,  Minerva,  testimony  of  concern- 
ing the  Pottawatomie  raid,  151. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  on  the  Compromise  of 
1850,  6;  character  of,  10;  on  the 
consequences  of  the  Kansas  -  Ne- 
braska bill,  16  ;  member  of  confer- 
ence committee  on  the  Lecompton 
bill,  235 ;  calls  up  the  bill  for  the 
admission  of  Kansas,  266. 

Shannon,  Wilson,  79,  83,  84;  recep- 
tion at  Shawnee  Mission,  82,  83; 
calls  out  the  militia,  91  ;  visits  Law- 
rence, 98;  speech  at  Franklin,  99; 
letter  of  to  the  president,  119 ;  or- 
ders the  dispersion  of  the  Topeka 
Legislature,  130 ;  on  the  Pottawato- 
mie raid,  152  ;  proclamation  of  June 
4, 1856, 158 ;  negotiations  of  at  Law- 
rence, 185,  186  ;  removal  of,  187  ;  on 
governing  Kansas,  187. 

Sherman,  John.  108,  114,  235. 

Sherman,  William,  145,  147,  150,  151. 

Shore,  Captain  S.  T.,  154,  155. 

Silliman,  Professor  Benjamin,  Sr.,  31. 

Slave-Code  of  the  first  territorial  leg- 
islature, 56-58. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  140,  141. 

Smith,  General  P.  F.,  189,  192,  203. 

Smith,  Samuel  A.,  232,  233. 

Snow,  F.  H.,  309. 

Snyder,  Captain  Eli,  245,  246. 

Southeast,  the,  237,  238,  241. 

Spooner,  W.  B.,  30. 


"  Squatter  Sovereign,"  the,  111,  121, 

Stauton,  E.  M.,  274,  282,  297. 

Stan  ton,  F.  P.,  appointment  of  as  ter- 
ritorial secretary,  211 ;  his  appor- 
tionment of  the  territory,  212  ;  re- 
jects the  Oxford  and  McGee  returns, 
218  ;  assailed  by  Sheriff  Jones,  219 ; 
calls  an  extra  session  of  the  legis- 
lature, 226. 

Stearns,  G.  L.,  31. 

Stephens,  A.  H.,  on  the  Compromise 
of  1850,  5 ;  on  the  nativity  of  the 
immigrants,  43  ;  member  of  confer- 
ence committee  on  the  Lecoinptou 
bill,  235. 

Stewart,  governor  of  Missouri,  252, 
253. 

Stringfellow,  B.  F.,  slave -colonization 
project,  27 ;  on  the  plans  of  free- 
state  men,  39;  appeal  of,  to  the 
South,  173,  174. 

Siunner,  Charles,  9 ;  128,  129. 

Suinner,  Colonel  E.  V.,  93 ;  disperses 
the  Topeka  Legislature,  131-135 ;  on 
Shannon's  proclamation,  158 ;  re- 
leases Pate,  159-161 ;  disbands  Whit- 
field's  command,  161. 

Swift,  F.  B.,  202. 

Tecumseh,  forays  into,  178. 

Thayer,  Eli,  29,  30. 

Thorpe,  Jim,  47^49. 

Tissenet,  M.  du,  19. 

Titus,  Colonel  H.  T.,  121,  183,  184, 
186,200. 

Toombs  bill,  the,  107,  108. 

Topeka,  34  ;  freebooting  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  178,  179;  destruction  of  or- 
dered by  Secretary  Woodson,  192. 

Topeka  Constitution,  the,  71 ;  in  Con- 
gress, 74-77 ;  character  oi  the  move- 
ment, 77,  78. 

Topeka  Legislature,  the,  74;  disper- 
sion of,  129 ;  third  session  of,  204, 
205 ;  fourth  session  of,  214  ;  session 
at  Lawrence,  257  ;  final  adjournment 
of,  258. 

Townsley,  James,  143-145, 148. 

Tweed,  W.  M.,  13. 

Updegraff,  Dr.  W.  W.,  190. 

Wakarusa  War,  the,  91-100. 

Walker,  Mathew,  174. 

Walher,  R.  J.,  appointed  governor, 
210;  speech  of  at  Topeka,  213; 
watches  the  state  legislature,  214; 
rejects  the  Oxford  and  McGee  re- 
turns, 218 ;  makes  a  tour  of  Le- 
compton,  219,  220 ;  departure  of 
from  Kansas,  226. 


334 


INDEX. 


Walker,  Samuel,  on  the  winter  of 
1855-56, 102,  103  ;  consulted  by  Col- 
ouel  Simmer,  132 ;  captures  Fort 
Titus,  182-185;  encounter  of  with 
a  free-state  mob,  186  ;  interview  of 
with  Colonel  Cooke,  193  ;  seizes 
"  candlebox  "  election  returns,  230 ; 
expedition  of  to  Fort  Scott,  247-249. 

Webster,  Daniel,  5, 13. 

Weiner,  Theodore,  143,  148. 

White,  Rev.  Martin,  142  ;  on  the  Pot- 
tawatomie  raid,  151,  152 ;  driven 
from  the  territory,  176,  177  ;  shoots 
a  son  of  John  Brown,  190  ;  resolu- 
tion of  in  the  territorial  legislature, 
206. 

Whitfield,  J.  W.,  40,  41, 110,  157, 161, 
200. 


WigfaH,  senator  of  Texas,  261. 

Wilkinson,  Allan,  145,  147. 

Williams,  H.  H.  142,  143,  147,  249. 

Williams,  J.  M.  S.,  30. 

Wilson,  Henry,  210. 

Women,  hardships  of,  103 ;  heroism 
of,  292. 

Wood,  S.  N.,  89,  90,  108,  109. 

Wood,  Captain  T.  J.,  202. 

Woodson,  Daniel,  acting  governor,  83, 
189  ;  letter  to  Colonel  Sumner,  130, 
131,  134 ;  orders  the  destruction  of 
Topeka,  192 ;  correspondence  of  with 
the  "  State  Central  Committee," 
194,  195. 

Wyandotte  Constitutional  Convention, 
262,  263,  264  ;  in  Congress,  264,  265. 


American  Comtnontoeaittis. 

EDITED    BY 

HORACE   E.  SCUDDER. 


A  series  of  volumes  narrating  the  history  of  such 
States  of  the  Union  as  have  exerted  a  positive  influ- 
ence in  the  shaping  of  the  national  government,  or 
have  a  striking  political,  social,  or  economical  history. 

The  commonwealth  has  always  been  a  positive  force 
in  American  history,  and  it  is  believed  that  no  better 
time  could  be  found  for  a  statement  of  the  life  inher- 
ent in  the  States  than  when  the  unity  of  the  nation 
has  been  assured ;  and  it  is  hoped  by  this  means  to 
throw  new  light  upon  the  development  of  the  country, 
and  to  give  a  fresh  point  of  view  for  the  study  of 
American  history. 

This  series  is  under  the  editorial  care  of  Mr.  Hor- 
ace E.  Scudder,  who  is  well  known  both  as  a  student 
of  American  history  and  as  a  writer. 

The  aim  of  the  Editor  will  be  to  secure  trustworthy 
and  graphic  narratives,  which  shall  have  substantial 
value  as  historical  monographs  and  at  the  same  time 
do  full  justice  to  the  picturesque  elements  of  the  sub- 
jects. The  volumes  are  uniform  in  size  and  general 
style  with  the  series  of  "  American  Statesmen "  and 
"American  Men  of  Letters,"  and  are  furnished  with 
maps,  indexes,  and  such  brief  critical  apparatus  as 
add  to  the  thoroughness  of  the  work. 

Speaking  of  the  series,  the  Boston  Journal  says: 
"  It  is  clear  that  this  series  will  occupy  an  entirely  new 
place  in  our  historical  literature.  Written  by  compe- 
tent and  aptly  chosen  authors,  from  fresh  materials, 
in  convenient  form,  and  with  a  due  regard  to  propor- 
tion and  proper  emphasis,  they  promise  to  supply 
most  satisfactorily  a  positive  want" 


The  series,  so  far  as  arranged,  comprises  the  follow- 
ing volumes :  — 

NOW  READY. 

Virginia.  A  History  of  the  People.  By  JOHN  ESTEN 
COOKE,  author  of  "  The  Virginia  Comedians," 
"Life  of  Stonewall  Jackson,"  "Life  of  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,"  etc. 

Oregon.  The  Struggle  for  Possession.  By  WILLIAM 
BARROWS,  D.  D. 

Maryland.  By  WILLIAM  HAND  BROWNE,  Associate 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Kentucky.  By  NATHANIEL  SOUTHGATE  SHALER,  S.  D., 
Professor  of  Palaeontology,  Harvard  University,  re- 
cently Director  of  the  Kentucky  State  Survey. 

Michigan.     By  Hon.  T.  M.  COOLEY,  LL.  D. 

Kansas.  By  LEVERETT  W.  SPRING,  Professor  of  Eng- 
lish Literature  in  the  University  of  Kansas. 

IN  PREPARATION. 

Tennessee.     By  JAMES  PHELAN,  Ph.  D.  (Leipsic). 

California.  By  JOSIAH  ROYCE,  Instructor  in  Philoso- 
phy in  Harvard  University. 

Connecticut.  By  ALEXANDER  JOHNSTON,  author  of  a 
"  Handbook  of  American  Politics,"  Professor  of 
Jurisprudence  and  Political  Economy  in  the  Col- 
lege of  New  Jersey. 

Pennsylvania.  By  Hon.  WAYNE  McVEAGH,  late  At- 
torney-General of  the  United  States. 

South  Carolina.  By  Hon.  WILLIAM  H.  TRESCOT,  au- 
thor of  "  The  Diplomacy  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion." 

New  York.     By  Hon.  ELLIS  H.  ROBERTS. 

Missouri.  By  LUCIEN  CARR,  M.  A.,  Assistant  Curator 
of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology. 

Massachusetts.     By  BROOKS  ADAMS. 

Others  to  be  announced  hereafter.     Each  volume, 

with  Maps,  i6mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 


PRESS    NOTICES. 

"VIRGINIA." 

Mr.  Cooke  has  made  a  fascinating  volume  —  one  which  it  will 
be  very  difficult  to  surpass  either  in  method  or  interest.  If  all 
the  volumes  of  the  series  ["American  Commonwealths"]  come 
up  to  the  level  of  this  one  —  in  interest,  in  broad  tolerance  of 
spirit,  and  in  a  thorough  comprehension  of  what  is  best  worth 
telling  —  a  very  great  service  will  have  been  done  to  the  reading 
public.  True  historic  insight  appears  through  all  these  pages, 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  do  all  parties  and  religions  perfect  jus- 
tice. The  story  of  the  settlement  of  Virginia  is  told  in  full.  .  .  . 
It  is  made  as  interesting  as  a  romance.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

It  need  not  be  said  that  it  is  written  in  a  fascinating  style,  and 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  strong  love  for  the  author's  native  State, 
and  pride  in  its  history.  It  should  be  said  further  that  it  brings 
out  many  an  obscure  or  forgotten  bit  of  history,  and  makes  real 
an  epoch  which  is  familiar  to  very  few.  —  New  York  Evening  Post. 

No  more  acceptable  writer  could  have  been  selected  to  tell  the 
story  of  Virginia's  history.  Mr.  Cooke  is  a  graceful  writer,  and 
thoroughly  informed  in  reference  to  his  subject. .  .  .  He  has  mas- 
tered his  subject,  and  tells  the  story  in  a  delightful  way.  —  Edu- 
cational Journal  of  Virginia  (Richmond,  Va.). 

"OREGON." 

The  long  and  interesting  story  of  the  struggle  of  five  nations 
for  the  possession  of  Oregon  is  told  in  the  graphic  and  reliable 
narrative  of  William  Barrows.  ...  A  more  fascinating  record 
has  seldom  been  written.  .  .  .  Careful  research  and  pictorial  skill 
of  narrative  commend  this  book  of  antecedent  history  to  all  inter- 
ested in  the  rapid  march  and  wonderful  development  of  our 
American  civilization  upon  the  Pacific  coast.  —  Springfield  Repub- 
lican. 

There  is  so  much  that  is  new  and  informing  to  the  reading 
world  embodied  in  this  little  volume  that  we  commend  it  with 
enthusiasm.  It  is  written  with  great  ability  and  in  a  pleasing 
style,  a  vein  of  humor  rippling  along  its  pages  and  imparting  an 
agreeable  and  appetizing  flavor  to  the  varied  descriptions.  .  .  . 
The  book  is  worthy  of  careful  perusal  by  all  who  claim  to  be 
intelligent  concerning  the  rich  and  progressive  country  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  —  Magazine  of  American  History  (New 
York). 


"MARYLAND." 

In  the  choice  of  Mr.  William  Hand  Browne  as  an  author  for  a 
trustworthy  and  graphic  account  of  the  rise  and  development  of 
Maryland,  the  editor  of  this  valuable  series  of  historical  volumes 
has  made  a  very  strong  point.  Mr.  Browne's  familiarity  with  the 
political  and  material  development  of  the  Province  as  well  as  the 
State  has  enabled  him  to  produce  a  work  of  more  than  usual  ex- 
cellence. .  .  .  Much  that  has  been  hitherto  obscure  is  now  pre- 
sented to  the  reader  in  a  clear  light.  The  book  is  well  written 
in  simple,  straightforward,  vigorous  English,  and  is  a  substantial 
contribution  to  the  history  of  America.  —  Magazine  of  American 
History. 

In  every  way  an  admirable  and  most  useful  contribution  to 
American  history.  .  .  .  Mr.  Browne  has  done  his  work  with  rare 
skill,  thoroughness,  and  the  moderation  that  of  all  things  befits 
historical  writing.  His  narrative,  he  tells  us,  has  been  written  al- 
most entirely  "  from  the  original  manuscript  records  and  archives." 
He  has  certainly  made  the  subject  his  own,  and  the  result  is  a 
volume  of  such  interest  that  the  reader  cannot  afford  to  skip  a 
line.  —  New  York  Graphic. 

"KENTUCKY." 

Professor  Shaler  has  made  use  of  much  valuable  existing  ma- 
terial, and  by  a  patient,  discriminating,  and  judicious  choice  has 
given  us  a  complete  and  impartial  record  of  the  various  stages 
through  which  this  State  has  passed  from  its  first  settlement  to 
the  present  time.  No  one  will  read  this  story  of  the  building  of 
one  of  the  great  commonwealths  of  this  Union  without  feelings  of 
deep  interest,  and  that  the  author  has  done  his  work  well  and  im- 
partially will  be  the  general  verdict.  —  Christian  at  Work  (New 
York). 

Professor  Shaler  has  prepared  a  succinct,  well-balanced,  and 
readable  sketch  of  this  "  pioneer  Commonwealth."  Himself  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  he  writes  with  the  natural  affection  which  a 
man  of  loyal  impulses  feels  for  his  State,  and  yet  with  no  ap- 
parent bias.  .  .  .  The  volume  is  in  every  way  a  worthy  addition 
to  a  series  which  possesses  unique  value  and  interest.  —  Boston 
Journal. 

A  capital  example  of  what  a  short  State  history  should  be.  — 
Hartford  Courant. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


American  JHen  of  mtters. 

EDITED  BY 

CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER. 


A  series  of  biographies  of  distinguished  American 
authors,  having  all  the  special  interest  of  biography, 
and  the  larger  interest  and  value  of  illustrating  the 
different  phases  of  American  literature,  the  social,, 
political,  and  moral  influences  which  have  moulded 
these  authors  and  the  generations  to  which  they  be- 
longed. 

This  series  when  completed  will  form  an  admi- 
rable survey  of  all  that  is  important  and  of  historical 
influence  in  American  literature,  and  will  itself  be  a 
creditable  representation  of  the  literary  and  critical 
ability  of  America  to-clay. 

Washington  Irving.    By  CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER. 
Noah  Webster.     By  HORACE  E.  SCUDDER. 
Henry  D.  Thoreau.     By  FRANK  B.  SANBORN. 
George  Ripley.    By  OCTAVIUS  BROOKS  FROTHINGHAM. 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper.    By  PROF.  T.  R.  LOUNSBURY. 
Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli.     By  T.  W.  HIGGINSON. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.     By  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES 
Edgar  Allan  Poe.     By  GEORGE  E.  WOODBERRY. 
Nathaniel  Parker  Willis.    By  HENRY  A.  BEERS. 

IN  PREPARA  T1ON. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne.     By  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL. 
William  Cullen  Bryant.     By  JOHN  BIGELOW. 
Bayard  Taylor.     By  J.  R.  G.  HASSARD. 
William  Gilmore  Simms.     By  GEORGE  W.  CABLE. 
Benjamin  Franklin.     By  JOHN  BACH  McMASTER. 

Others  to  be  announced  hereafter. 
Each  volume,  with  Portrait,  i6mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25, 


"WASHINGTON    IRVING." 

Mr.  Warner  has  not  only  written  with  sympathy,  mi- 
nute knowledge  of  his  subject,  fine  literary  taste,  and  that 
easy,  fascinating  style  which  always  puts  him  on  such 
good  terms  with  his  readers,  but  he  has  shown  a  tact, 
critical  sagacity,  and  sense  of  proportion  full  of  promise 
for  the  rest  of  the  series  which  is  to  pass  under  his 
supervision. — New  York  Tribune. 

It  is  a  very  charming  piece  of  literary  work,  and  pre- 
sents the  reader  with  an  excellent  picture  of  Irving  as  a 
man  and  of  his  methods  as  an  author,  together  with  an 
accurate  and  discriminating  characterization  of  his  works. 
—  Boston  Journal. 

It  would  hardly  be  possible  to  produce  a  fairer  or  more 
candid  book  of  its  kind.  —  Literary  World  (London). 

"NOAH    WEBSTER." 

Mr.  Scudder's  biography  of  Webster  is  alike  honorable 
to  himself  and  its  subject.  Finely  discriminating  in  all 
that  relates  to  personal  and  intellectual  character,  schol- 
arly and  just  in  its  literary  criticisms,  analyses,  and 
estimates,  it  is  besides  so  kindly  and  manly  in  its  tone,  its 
narrative  is  so  spirited  and  enthralling,  its  descriptions 
are  so  quaintly  graphic,  so  varied  and  cheerful  in  their 
coloring,  and  its  pictures  so  teem  with  the  bustle,  the 
movement,  and  the  activities  of  the  real  life  of  a  by-gone 
but  most  interesting  age,  that  the  attention  of  the  reader 
is  never  tempted  to  wander,  and  he  lays  down  the  book 
with  a  sigh  of  regret  for  its  brevity.  — Harper's  Monthly 
Magazine. 

It  fills  completely  its  place  in  the  purpose  of  this  se- 
ries of  volumes.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

"HENRY    D.    THOREAU." 

Mr.  Sanborn's  book  is  thoroughly  American  and  truly 
fascinating.  Its  literary  skill  is  exceptionally  good,  and 
there  is  a  racy  flavor  in  its  pages  and  an  amount  of  exact 
knowledge  of  interesting  people  that  one  seldom  meets 
with  in  current  literature.  Mr.  Sanborn  has  done  Tho- 
reau's  genius  an  imperishable  service.  — American  Church 
Review  (New  York). 

Mr.  Sanborn  has  written  a  careful  book  about  a  curious 
man,  whom  he  has  studied  as  impartially  as  possible ; 
whom  he  admires  warmly  but  with  discretion  ;  and  the 
story  of  whose  life  he  has  told  with  commendable  frank- 
ness  and  simplicity. — New  York  Mail  and  Express. 

It  is  undoubtedly  the  best  life  of  Thoreau  extant  — 
Christian  Advocate  (New  York). 


"GEORGE    RIPLEY." 

Mr.  Frothingham's  memoir  is  a  calm  and  thoughtful 
and  tender  tribute.  It  is  marked  by  rare  discrimination, 
and  good  taste  and  simplicity.  The  biographer  keeps 
himself  in  the  background,  and  lets  his  subject  speak. 
And  the  result  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  personal 
portraiture  that  we  have  met  with  in  a  long  time.  —  Tbe 
Churchman  (New  York). 

He  has  fulfilled  his  responsible  task  with  admirable 
fidelity,  frank  earnestness,  justice,  fine  feeling,  balanced 
moderation,  delicate  taste,  and  finished  literary  skill.  It 
is  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  high-bred  scholar  and  gener- 
ous-hearted man,  whose  friend  he  has  so  worthily  por- 
trayed.—  Rev.  William  H.  Channing  (London). 

"JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER." 
We  have  here  a  model  biography.  The  book  is  charm- 
ingly written,  with  a  felicity  and  vigor  of  diction  that  are 
notable,  and  with  a  humor  sparkling,  racy,  and  never 
obtrusive.  The  story  of  the  life  will  have  something  of 
the  fascination  of  one  of  the  author's  own  romances.  — 
New  York  Tribune. 

Prof.  Lounsbury's  book  is  an  admirable  specimen  of 
literary  biography.  .  .  .  We  can  recall  no  recent  addition 
to  American  biography  in  any  department  which  is  supe- 
rior to  it.  It  gives  the  reader  not  merely  a  full  account 
of  Cooper's  literary  career,  but  there  is  mingled  with  this 
a  sufficient  account  of  the  man  himself  apart  from  his 
books,  and  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived,  to  keep 
alive  the  interest  from  the  first  word  to  the  last. — New 
York  Evening  Post.  

"MARGARET  FULLER  OSSOLI." 
Here  at  last  we  have  a  biography  of  one  of  the  noblest 
and  the  most  intellectual  of  American  women,  which  does 
full  justice  to  its  subject.  The  author  has  had  ample 
material  for  his  work,  —  all  the  material  now  available, 
perhaps,  —  and  has  shown  the  skill  of  a  master  in  his 
use  of  it.  ...  It  is  a  fresh  view  of  the  subject,  and  adds 
important  information  to  that  already  given  to  the  public. 
—  REV.  DR.  F.  H.  HEDGE,  in  Boston  Advertiser. 

He  has  filled  a  gap  in  our  literary  history  with  excel- 
lent taste,  with  sound  judgment,  and  with  that  literary 
skill  which  is  preeminently  his  own.  —  Christian  Union 
(New  York). 

Mr.  Higginson  writes  with  both  enthusiasm  and  sym- 
pathy, and  makes  a  volume  of  surpassing  interest.  — 
Commercial  Advertiser  (New  York). 


"RALPH    WALDO   EMERSON." 

A  biography  of  Emerson  by  Holmes  is  a  real  eve«nt  in 
American  literature.  .  .  .  He  has  brought  Emerson  him- 
self so  near,  and  painted  him  for  us  with  a  pencil  so 
loving  and  yet  so  just,  that  it  will  remain  with  many  of 
us  a  question  which  shall  be  hereafter  most  dear  to  us, 
the  man  whom  the  artist  thus  reveals,  or  the  artist  him- 
self. —  Standard  (Chicago). 

Dr.  Holmes  has  written  one  of  the  most  delightful 
biographies  that  has  ever  appeared.  Every  page  sparkles 
with  genius.  His  criticisms  are  trenchant,  his  analysis 
clear,  his  sense  of  proportion  delicate,  and  his  sympa- 
thies broad  and  deep.  —  Philadelphia  Press. 


"EDGAR   ALLAN    POE." 

Mr.  Woodberry  has  contrived  with  vast  labor  to  con- 
struct what  must  hereafter  be  called  the  authoritative 
biography  of  Poe  —  a  biography  which  corrects  all  others, 
supplements  all  others,  and  supersedes  all  others.  —  The 
Critic  (New  York). 

The  best  life  of  Poe  that  has  yet  been  written,  and  no 
better  one  is  likely  to  be  written  hereafter.  This  is  high 
praise,  but  it  is  deserved.  Mr.  Woodberry  has  spared  no 
pains  in  exploring  sources  of  information  ;  he  has  shown 
rare  judgment  and  discretion  in  the  interpretation  of  what 
he  has  found ;  he  has  set  forth  everything  frankly  and 
fairly;  and  he  has  brought  to  bear  upon  the  critical  part 
of  his  work  a  keen  instinct,  a  well-informed  mind,  a  sound 
judgment,  and  the  utmost  catholicity  of  spirit.  — Commer- 
cial Advertiser  (New  York). 


"NATHANIEL   PARKER  WILLIS." 

Prof.  Beers  has  done  his  work  sympathetically  yet  can- 
didly and  fairly  and  in  a  philosophic  manner,  indicating 
the  status  occupied  by  Willis  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
and  sketching  graphically  his  literary  environment  and 
the  main  springs  of  his  success.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
books  of  an  excellent  series.  —  Buffalo  Times. 

The  work  is  sober,  frank,  honest,  trustworthy,  and  em- 
inently readable.  —  The  Beacon  (Boston). 

A  delightful  biographical  study.  —  Brooklyn  Union. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &   CO.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


American  Statesmen. 

A  Series   of  Biographies   of  Men   conspicuous  in   the 
Political  History  of  the  United  States. 

EDITED    BT 

JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 

The  object  of  this  series  is  not  merely  to  give  a 
number  of  unconnected  narratives  of  men  in  Ameri- 
can political  life,  but  to  produce  books  which  shall, 
when  taken  together,  indicate  the  lines  of  political 
thought  and  development  in  American  history,  — 
books  embodying  in  compact  form  the  result  of  ex- 
tensive study  of  the  many  and  diverse  influences 
which  have  combined  to  shape  the  political  history  of 
our  country. 

The  series  is  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  JOHN  T. 
MORSE,  JR.,  whose  historical  and  biographical  writings 
give  ample  assurance  of  his  special  fitness  for  thiv 
task.  The  volumes  now  ready  are  as  follows:  — 

John  Quincy  Adams.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
Alexander  Hamilton.     By  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE. 
John  C.  Callwun.     By  DR.  H.  VON  HOLST. 
Andrew  Jackson.     By  PROF.  W.  G.  SUMNER. 
John  Randolph.     By  HENRY  ADAMS. 
James  Monroe.     By  PRES.  DANIEL  C.  OILMAN, 
Thomas  Jefferson.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
Daniel  Webster.     By  HENRY  CABOT  LODGE. 
Albert  Gallatin.     By  JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS. 
James  Madison.     By  SYDNEY  HOWARD  GAY. 
John  Adams.     By  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
John  Marshall.     By  A.  B.  MAGRUDER. 
Samuel  Adams.     By  JAMES  K.  HOSMER. 

IN  PREPARATION. 
Henry  Clay.     By  Hon.  CARL  SCHURZ. 
Martin  Van  Buren.     By  HON.  WM.  DORSHEIMER. 

Others  to  be  announced  hereafter.  Each  biography 
occupies  a  single  volume,  i6mo,  gilt  top.  Price  $1.25. 


ESTIMATES    OF   THE    PRESS. 


"JOHN  QUINCY   ADAMS." 

That  Mr.  Morse's  conclusions  will  in  the  main  be  those  of 
posterity  we  have  very  little  doubt,  and  he  has  set  an  admirable 
example  to  his  coadjutors  in  respect  of  interesting  narrative, 
just  proportion,  and  judicial  candor.  —  New  York  Evening 
Post. 

Mr.  Morse  has  written  closely,  compactly,  intelligently,  fear- 
lessly, honestly.  —  New  York  Times. 


"ALEXANDER   HAMILTON." 

The  biography  of  Mr.  Lodge  is  calm  and  dignified  through- 
out. He  has  the  virtue  —  rare  indeed  among  biographers  — 
of  impartiality.  He  has  done  his  work  with  conscientious  care, 
and  the  biography  of  Hamilton  is  a  book  which  cannot  have 
too  many  readers.  It  is  more  than  a  biography ;  it  is  a  study 
in  the  science  of  government.  —  St.  Paul  Pioneer-Press. 


"JOHN   C.   CALHOUN." 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  skill  with  which  the  political  career 
of  the  great  South  Carolinian  is  portrayed  in  these  pages.  The 
work  is  superior  to  any  other  number  of  the  series  thus  far,  and 
we  do  not  think  it  can  be  surpassed  by  any  of  those  that  are  to 
come.  The  whole  discussion  in  relation  to  Calhoun's  position 
is  eminently  philosophical  and  just.  —  The  Dial  (Chicago). 


"ANDREW  JACKSON." 

Prof.  Sumner  has,  ...  all  in  all,  made  the  justest  long  esti- 
mate of  Jackson  that  has  had  itself  put  between  the  covers  of  a 
book.  —  New  York  Times. 

One  of  the  most  masterly  monographs  that  we  have  ever  had 
the  pleasure  of  reading.  It  is  calm  and  clear.  —  Providence 
Journal. 


"JOHN    RANDOLPH." 

The  book  has  been  to  me  intensely  interesting.  ...  It  is 
rich  in  new  facts  and  side  lights,  and  is  worthy  of  its  place  in 
the  already  brilliant  series  of  monographs  on  American  States- 
men.—  Prof.  MOSES  COIT  TYLER. 

%  Remarkably  interesting.  .  .  .  The  biography  has  all  the  ele- 
ments of  popularity,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  widely  read.  —  Hart- 
ford Courant. 

"JAMES    MONROE." 

In  clearness  of  style,  and  in  all  points  of  literary  workman- 
ship, from  cover  to  cover,  the  volume  is  well-nigh  perfect. 
There  is  also  a  calmness  of  judgment,  a  correctness  of  taste, 
and  an  absence  of  partisanship  which  are  too  frequently  want- 
ing in  biographies,  and  especially  in  political  biographies. — 
American  Literary  Churchman  (Baltimore). 

The  most  readable  of  all  the  lives  that  have  ever  been  written 
of  the  great  jurist.  — San  Francisco  Bulletin. 


"THOMAS  JEFFERSON." 

The  book  is  exceedingly  interesting  and  readable.  The  at- 
tention of  the  reader  is  strongly  seized  at  once,  and  he  is  carried 
along  in  spite  of  himself,  sometimes  protesting,  sometimes 
doubting,  yet  unable  to  lay  the  book  down. —  Chicago  Standard. 

The  requirements  of  political  biography  have  rarely  been 
met  so  satisfactorily  as  in  this  memoir  of  Jefferson.  —  Boston 
Journal. 


"DANIEL  WEBSTER." 

It  will  be  read  by  students  of  history  ;  it  will  be  invaluable  as 
a  work  of  reference  ;  it  will  be  an  authority  as  regards  matters 
of  fact  and  criticism  ;  it  hits  the  key-note  of  Webster's  durable 
and  ever-growing  fame  ;  it  is  adequate,  calm,  impartial  ;  it  is  ad- 
mirable. —  Philadelphia  Press. 

The  task  has  been  achieved  ably,  admirably,  and  faithfully.  — 
Boston  Transcript. 


"ALBERT   GALLATIN." 

It  is  one  of  the  most  carefully  prepared  of  these  very  valu- 
able volumes,  .  .  .  abounding  in  information  not  so  readily  ac- 
cessible as  is  that  pertaining  to  men  more  often  treated  by  the 
biographer.  .  .  .  The  whole  work  covers  a  ground  which  the 
political  student  cannot  afford  to  neglect.  —  Boston  Corresfow 
dent  Hartford  Courant. 

Frank,  simple,  and  straightforward.  —  New  York  Tribune. 

"JAMES   MADISON." 

The  execution  of  the  work  deserves  the  highest  praise.  It  is 
very  readable,  in  a  bright  and  vigorous  style,  and  is  marked  by 
unity  and  consecutiveness  of  plan.  —  The  Nation  (New  York). 

An  able  book.  .  .  .  Mr.  Gay  writes  with  an  eye  single  to  truth. 
—  The  Critic  (New  York). 

"JOHN   ADAMS." 

A  good  piece  of  literary  work.  ...  It  covers  the  ground 
thoroughly,  and  gives  just  the  sort  of  simple  and  succinct  ac- 
count that  is  wanted.  — Evening  Post  (New  York). 

A  model  of  condensation  and  selection,  as  well  as  of  graphic 
portraiture  and  clear  and  interesting  historical  narrative.  — 
Christian  Intelligencer  (New  York). 

"JOHN    MARSHALL." 

Well  done,  with  simplicity,  clearness,  precision,  and  judg- 
ment, and  in  a  spirit  of  moderation  and  equity.  A  valuable  ad- 
dition to  the  series.  —  New  York  Tribune. 


"SAMUEL   ADAMS." 

Thoroughly  appreciative  and  sympathetic,  yet  fair  and  criti- 
cal. .  .  .  This  biography  is  a  piece  of  good  work  —  a  clear  and 
simple  presentation  of  a  noble  man  and  pure  patriot;  it  is 
written  in  a  spirit  of  candor  and  humanity.  —  Worcester  Spy. 

A  brilliant  and  enthusiastic  book,  which  it  will  do  every 
American  much  good  to  read.  —  The  Beacon  ( Boston). 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN,  AND  CO.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


